THE FILMMAKER’S EYE
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THE FILMMAKER’S EYE
LEARNING (AND BREAKING) THE RULES OF CINEMATIC COMPOSITION
GUSTAVO MERCADO
Front cover image: Trois Couleurs: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993). Courtesy of the Kobal Collection.
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Typeset and illustrations by Gustavo Mercado
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this book is dedicated to my parents, Julio and Maria Mercado,
whose love and respect for film continues to inspire me.
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contents
acknowledgments.................................................xi
introduction.........................................................xiii
finding the frame....................................................1
principles of composition and technical concepts..........6
image system......................................................21
extreme close up.................................................29
close up............................................................35
medium close up.................................................41
medium shot......................................................47
medium long shot................................................53
long shot...........................................................59
extreme long shot................................................65
over the shoulder shot..........................................71
VII
establishing shot.................................................77
subjective shot....................................................83
two shot............................................................89
group shot.........................................................95
canted shot......................................................101
emblematic shot................................................107
abstract shot....................................................113
macro shot.......................................................119
zoom shot........................................................125
pan shot..........................................................131
tilt shot............................................................137
dolly shot.........................................................143
dolly zoom shot.................................................149
VIII
tracking shot.....................................................155
Steadicam® shot*...............................................161
crane shot........................................................167
sequence shot..................................................173
filmography........................................................179
index................................................................183
*Steadicam ® is a registered trademark of the Tiffen Company
IX
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acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to all the individuals who helped in the preparation of this book through their kind support,
contributions, and expertise.
I am sincerely grateful to the team at Focal Press: Robert Clements, Anne McGee, Dennis Schaefer, Chris Simpson, and especially Elinor Actipis, who provided me with invaluable guidance and suggestions from start to finish (including a great title), took
the time to nurture a first time author, and had an unwavering commitment to preserving the original concept behind this book.
I also want to thank my colleagues in the Film & Media Studies Department at Hunter College of the City University of New York,
whose passion and dedication to studying and teaching the art and craft of film has always been a source of encouragement
and inspiration, among them: Richard Barsam, Michael Gitlin, Andrew Lund, Ivone Margulies, Joe McElhaney, Robert Stanley,
Renato Tonelli, Shanti Thakur, and Joel Zuker. I also want to acknowledge the support of Hunter College President Jennifer
J. Raab, Provost Vita C. Rabinowitz, Dean Shirley Clay Scott, and Film & Media Studies Department Chair James Roman, who
foster an atmosphere that encourages faculty scholarship and excellence in teaching.
I am also grateful to Jerry Carlson, David Davidson, Herman Lew, and Lana Lin at the City College of the City University of New
York, who were generous with their knowledge and mentorship, and to Elvis Maynard for his research assistance.
My reviewers provided me with wonderful suggestions and undoubtedly made this a better book than it would have been: David
A. Anselmi at the University of California Berkeley Extension, David Crossman at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, David Tainer at DePaul University, and especially Katherine Hurbis-Cherrier at New York University, who always
had le mot juste whenever I needed it.
Special thanks go to my sweet wife Yuki Takeshima, who was endlessly patient, supportive, and understanding through many
late nights of writing, and unconditionally sacrificed a lot of her time so that I could stare at a monitor day after day.
But I am most grateful of all to my teacher, colleague, mentor, and friend, Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, whose tireless and illuminating comments, assistance, ideas, and guidance were instrumental in the development of the manuscript. His teachings and
passion for cinema resonate through every page of the book you now hold in your hands.
XI
Up in the Air. Jason Reitman, 2009.
XII
introduction
A group of friends and I went to see Jason Reitman’s Up in
the Air (2009) soon after it was released. Returning from
the theatre, we discussed the movie; some of my friends
liked it, some found it a bit slow, and others thought it was
a masterpiece. At one point, the discussion focused on the
cinematography, and one of my friends recalled how brilliant the shot shown on the opposite page was. Regardless
of our opinions on the film, we all agreed with him about
how beautiful and meaningful that shot had been. Interestingly, we could recall everything about this shot clearly: its
composition, when it had happened in the film, and most
importantly why it was such a great shot. While there were
many other interesting shots and moments in the film, there
was something particularly special about this shot that really
resonated with all of us, regardless of how we felt about the
film as a whole. What was it? Was it the composition of the
shot? The acting? Or was there something else that made
this shot so memorable?
To understand why this shot works so well, we need
to know a bit about the context in which it appears. Natalie
(Anna Kendrick), is a corporate up and comer who devises a
way to fire employees remotely using webcams, saving her
company (a professional corporate termination service) a
lot of money spent flying their specialists to companies who
need their services. Ryan (George Clooney), a senior firing
specialist who is dubious of a system that precludes all real
human contact, questions its soundness. Their boss promptly puts Ryan in charge of Natalie’s education, and the two are
sent out as a team, so Natalie can experience firsthand firing
someone face to face. After a heart-wrenching montage of
employees reacting to the news of their firing, the film cuts
to a shot of Natalie sitting alone in a room full of empty of-
fice chairs as she waits for Ryan. When he arrives to pick her
up he asks her if she is OK, but she shrugs off the question,
and they leave together. Now that we know the backstory of
the shot, we can better understand what makes it work so
well. In terms of its composition, the shot does not appear
to be particularly complex. It looks like a simple wide shot of
Natalie surrounded by empty office chairs. If we look closer,
however, and break down the shot into its visual elements,
the rules of composition used to arrange them in the frame,
and its technical aspects, a more complex picture emerges,
literally.
The use of a long shot (a shot that includes a subject’s entire body and a large portion of their surrounding
area) allowed the inclusion of a lot of chairs clustered around
Natalie, emphasizing the large number of people she fired on
that day, and makes her look small and lonely in the frame.
The slight high angle also creates a composition that makes
the empty chairs easy to see; if the shot had been taken at
her eye level, for instance, most of the chairs would have
been blocked from sight by the ones in the foreground. The
high angle also makes Natalie look defeated, vulnerable, and
distraught (high angles are often used to convey these emotions in characters). Natalie’s placement in the frame follows the rule of thirds, creating a dynamic composition that
gives her viewing room on the side of the frame she is facing;
more importantly, this placement also makes it look as if the
chairs were pushing her into a corner, physically and emotionally (placing her at the center of the composition would
not have conveyed this idea). The camera to subject distance/
aperture combination resulted in a shot with a deep depth of
field, preventing us from concentrating our attention solely
on her and ensuring that the chairs are as significant to our
INTRODUCTION XIII
understand of this shot as she is (the filmmaker could have
used a shallow depth of field, isolating her in the composition). All of these compositional decisions convey a very specific idea regarding how Natalie really feels at that moment,
regardless of what she tells Ryan when he picks her up. The
composition of this shot tells the audience that behind the
corporate, no-nonsense exterior she projects, she hides an
emotional side of her personality, one that is affected by the
real human fallout of her profession. But the beauty and dramatic weight of this shot is not the result of simply applying
the rules of composition; this shot works as well as it does
because its technical elements, compositional choices, and
narrative context, all work in concert to create meaning. The
shot made a strong and lasting impression on my friends
and me because it was not just visually striking, but more
importantly, narratively resonant and eloquent.
This book presents an integrated approach to understanding and applying the rules of cinematic composition, one that takes into account the technical and narrative
aspects that make shots like the example from Up in the Air
so powerful. This new approach provides a deep and discursive exploration into one of the fundamental elements of the
visual language of cinema- the shot. By focusing on the rules
of cinematic composition as they apply to each of the most
widely used shots of the cinematic vocabulary, examining the
tools and know-how necessary to create them, and analyzing
each shot’s narrative function within their respective films,
a clearer picture emerges about what it takes to create images that are visually compelling and narratively meaningful.
But why focus on the rules of composition as they apply to
specific shot types instead of looking at these principles in a
broader, more general sense, as they can be applied to any
XIV
visual composition? The answer is simple. As the language
of cinema developed, certain rules of composition have become standardized in the way they are applied to certain
shots, just like some technical conventions (regarding the
use of lenses and depth of field, for instance) are more commonly found in certain shots and not others. These technical
and visual conventions are intricately connected to narrative
conventions, which over time have linked key moments in a
story with the use of particular shots. A detailed analysis of
how these visual, technical, and narrative conventions apply to each specific shot type can reveal the mechanics that
contributed to their becoming conventions in the first place.
Another concept this book proposes is that the rules
of cinematic composition are not written in stone. The socalled rules are remarkably flexible and can be subverted
when appropriate, creating shots that have a fresh impact
and resonate in surprising or even contradictory ways. For
this reason, every shot analyzed includes an example where
the rules were broken, yet made to work in creative, unexpected, and narratively compelling ways. You will find that
the old adage “learn the rules so you know how to break
them properly” works just as advertised.
The integrated approach of this book and its specific
focus on the basic building blocks of the cinematic vocabulary preclude a comprehensive discussion of every possible
concept and technical aspect related to visual composition.
However, you will find a number of essential terms related to
composition and cinematography in bold in most chapters.
These frequently used terms are defined in the Principles of
Composition and Technical Concepts chapter. If you wish to
develop a more encyclopedic understanding of every concept
and rule however, you should consider other sources that
deal with visual composition as a comprehensive subject. I
highly recommend Bruce Block’s The Visual Story: Creating
the Visual Structure of Film, TV, and Digital Media, also published by this press; it is a well illustrated, insightful look
at visual composition that covers both basic and advanced
components. For a solid guide to the technical aspects of
film and video production, I recommend a book I was lucky
to work on as an illustrator, written by my friend, mentor,
and colleague Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, titled Voice & Vision: A
Creative Approach to Narrative Film and DV Production, also
published by this press. In many ways, The Filmmaker’s Eye
was inspired by the integrated approach Voice & Vision uses
to cover every technical, aesthetic, narrative, and logistical
aspect of film and video preproduction, production, and postproduction to develop the creative vision of the filmmaker.
The Filmmaker’s Eye takes a new approach to understanding the rules of cinematic composition (and how to
break them) and to using them to move beyond basic utilitarian narrative conventions. This is most definitely not a “paint
by the numbers” approach to cinematic composition; you
should not be subservient to the dictates of a technique, but
make the technique work for the specific needs of your story
instead. The aim is to make you aware of the tonal impact
and thematic resonance that is possible with a more complete understanding of the role each shot plays in the larger
narrative and thematic scheme of your story. This comprehensive and integrated conceptualization of every shot in
your film is essential to truly harness the power of this art
form and connect with the audience. I hope the chapters in
this book will inspire you to think about your shots in this
more dynamic way the next time you set up the camera and
get ready to frame your next shot. Good luck.
INTRODUCTION XV
The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola, 1978.
XVI
finding the frame
I recently had the opportunity to attend the screening of a
short film by a beginning filmmaker. The first scene started
with a shot of a young couple sitting on a couch, having an
increasingly heated argument. The shot was wide enough to
include most of the room, which was littered with magazines,
DVDs, empty beer cans, a collection of sneakers stashed under the couch, and movie posters on every wall (obviously
the young director’s place). A small table could also be seen
in the foreground of the shot, with a game console and a
stack of video games prominently displayed on it. After the
film ended, there was a Q & A session with the director, who
looked very proud of his work and eager to answer questions.
A man in the audience asked: “Was the guy on the couch trying to act like Travis Bickle?” The filmmaker look puzzled,
and asked him why he was asking about Travis Bickle. The
man answered he thought the large Taxi Driver poster right
behind the actor was part of the story. “No, that poster just
happened to be there,” the filmmaker replied. Another audience member asked: “Was he trying to scam money from
her to buy more video games?” The director look confused.
“Was she upset with him because he doesn’t clean up?”
someone else asked. The filmmaker, obviously frustrated by
now, stopped the Q & A to explain that the scene in question was really about the young couple trying to avoid having
their first argument since they had just gotten married, and
that he thought this should have been obvious by the way
the young man’s hand was nervously twitching as he held
his wife’s hand. The movie posters, video games, and the
messy room were not really meant to be important parts of
the scene and the story. The director was, however, pleased
when someone asked him if a shot from the end of his film,
where the couple was shown walking towards the camera in
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50001-8
slow-motion, was an homage to a similar shot from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992). “Yes!” he replied. “I’m
glad you caught that.” When asked about the significance of
that reference to his story, he answered: “I thought it’d look
cool,” to a still puzzled audience. The rest of his film had
the same issues the opening shot and his homage shot had;
there was a complete disconnection between the composition of his shots and their function within the narrative of his
film.
The biggest mistake this director made was failing
to create compositions that reflected meaningful aspects of
his story. In the opening scene, he framed a shot that was
visually dense, filled with details that turned out to be extraneous to the story and prevented the audience from getting
the point he was trying to make. By prominently including
the movie posters, the game console, the sneakers under
the couch, and the empty beer cans, the twitching hand of
the husband was lost in the shot; the audience was unable
to glean the intended meaning of the composition. When
the director watched the shot through the viewfinder of the
camera during production, he did not notice anything else
besides the twitching hand of the husband in the frame, because he already knew that was a meaningful detail in the
scene; his audience did not. In the last shot of his film, the
director was able to duplicate a composition he had seen in
another film, and although the shot briefly elicited a positive response from the audience, it later became a source
of confusion when they realized that it had no meaningful
connection with the story. The director simply did not think
about his story in a cinematic way, to create shot compositions that visually emphasized significant plot details of his
story as well as its themes, motifs, and core ideas. If he had
FINDING THE FRAME
1
understood the relationship between the technical aspects
of filmmaking, the narrative function each type of shot can
have, and the rules of composition, his audience’s reaction to
his film would have been vastly different.
If you want to become an effective storyteller, one of
the most important things you can do is to have a clear vision
of your story, so that it reflects your unique take on it, not
somebody else’s. You already do this without thinking whenever you share an anecdote about something that happened
to you. Let us say, for instance, that you want to let a friend
know about the time someone got upset when you accidentally cut them off while driving and they chased you down
the highway. You would not begin your story by describing
what you did on that day as soon as you woke up, how long
it took you to take a shower, the articles you read on a blog
while having breakfast, the clothes you were wearing, or any
other meaningless detail that occurred before you got into
your car and drove down the highway. Intuitively, you would
edit your story to include only the most important parts, so
that your friend would understand how terrifying/interesting/
crazy your road rage encounter really was. The director of
the short film did not do this when he shot his film. By leaving all those unnecessary details in the composition of his
shots, he did the equivalent of describing the color of the
socks the guy sitting on the couch was wearing, instead of
showing his audience how uncomfortable and nervous the
husband was feeling while holding the hand of his wife.
Anything and everything that is included in the composition of a shot will be interpreted by an audience as being there for a specific purpose that is directly related and
necessary to understand the story they are watching. This is
one of those conventions that has been developed over thou2
sands of years of visual storytelling (even cavemen knew not
to include extraneous details in cave paintings!), and continues to be as important today as the first day it was used. If
we take this principle just a bit further, we could add that the
placement, size, and visibility of anything in the frame will
also affect how an audience understands its importance to
the story.
Take a look at the shot from Francis Ford Coppola’s
The Godfather (1972) at the beginning of this chapter. It is an
extreme long shot that shows a car parked on a deserted
road, with someone in the backseat pointing a gun at someone sitting in the front seat. In the distant background, the
Statue of Liberty is visible above a bank of wild grass. This
seemingly simple composition has a very clear meaning:
someone is being murdered inside a car on a deserted road.
In fact, this shot’s meaning is so clear that even someone
who has never seen The Godfather would have no trouble
understanding what is happening at this moment in the story. This shot is an excellent example of including only what
is absolutely necessary in the frame to get the point being
conveyed by the director. If you have been paying attention
and observed the shot closely, you should be curious about a
little detail included in the composition of this shot. If everything in the frame is meant to be meaningful and necessary
to understand the story, then why is the Statue of Liberty
part of the composition of this shot? Is it there simply to establish the location of the murder? Why is it so distant and
tiny in the frame? If you look at the shot carefully, you will
notice that the statue is facing away from the car where the
murder is taking place. Could this be a meaningful detail? If
it is in the frame, then everything about it, from its placement
to the angle from which it was shot, has to be meaningful.
Let us recount the example where you shared your road rage
incident with a friend. When you told your story, you left out
irrelevant details, describing the events from your unique
point of view, since you experienced them firsthand. But
what if the day of the incident happened to be the very first
time you were driving on a highway? How do you think that
would have changed the way you told the story? More importantly, do you think your friend would have felt differently
about how meaningful this event was to you? You probably
would have emphasized your lack of driving experience, and
how this incident made you weary of driving on highways,
or how particularly difficult it was to exit from the highway
when you noticed the guy was following you. In other words,
your unique experience (not only of the event itself, but also
your life experience) would have prompted you to contextualize the event, emphasizing and adding details that would
have inflected your story so that it reflected your individual
experience of it. Creating meaningful compositions works in
the same way; the framing of your shots should reflect your
understanding of the story in a way that conveys your perspective, your values, your idiosyncrasies, your vision. When
Coppola chose to include the Statue of Liberty in his shot
from The Godfather, seen from that particular angle, at that
particular size and placement in the frame, this is exactly
what he was doing; he was adding his perspective to this
event in the story, commenting on it, conveying much more
than just the murder of a man inside a car. What do you think
including such a recognizable symbol of freedom, the American Dream, and the immigrant journey says about the killing
of the man in the car?
When the director of the short film used the same
shot composition as the famous slow motion shot from the
opening of Reservoir Dogs, he expected the audience to connect with his story in the same way they had connected with
the Tarantino film. This was not the case, because the effectiveness of the original shot worked within the context
of that story, and while the audience had a reaction when
they recognized the homage he was making, the shot was
eventually rendered meaningless once they realized it had
absolutely nothing to do with the story they watched in his
film. The composition of a shot conveys meaning not only
through the arrangement of visual elements in a frame, but
also by the context in which it is presented. A high angle shot
(where the camera is placed so that it looks down on a subject), for instance, is commonly used when trying to convey
that a character feels defeated, lacking in confidence, or
psychologically vulnerable; while this is a common usage of
this kind of shot, you cannot simply assume that your audience will automatically infer those connotations whenever
you use this angle, unless the context in your story supports
it. There has to be a direct connection between what takes
place in the story and the use of a particular composition.
This is exactly how certain visual conventions, like showing
characters walking in slow motion towards the camera, became associated with certain connotations in the first place.
Additionally, because so much of the meaning of a shot is
derived by the context in which it is presented, it is possible
to subvert the commonly associated connotations of certain
shots. You could, for instance, use a high angle shot to convey that a character is confident, assertive, and in control,
and nobody in the audience would find the composition ironic
or ineffective, if the context in which you use it is supported
within your story (see the chapter on the medium close up
for an example of a high angle shot used in this way).
FINDING THE FRAME
3
But how do you decide which story elements should be used
to motivate your choice of shot size and composition? Which
context should support your shot selection? Before you can
make a decision about where to place the camera, you need
to understand exactly what should dominate the composition, what should be included and excluded from it, and what
meaning will be conveyed by the shot beyond what is contained in the frame. One strategy is to identify the themes
and ideas that lie at the heart of your story, its essence, its
core ideas. What is your story really about? Effective stories
have strong core ideas that add emotional depth and context,
allowing the audience to connect with what you are showing them. John G. Avildsen’s Rocky (1976), for instance, tells
the story of a small-time boxer who gets a one-in-a-million
chance to fight for the heavyweight championship of the
world. Only that is not what the story is really about. Rocky is
really about a man who once had a lot of potential as a boxer
but squandered it and never amounted to much, seeing himself as a failure because of it. Training for the heavyweight
championship makes him realize that he can still have a
chance to be somebody, to regain his self-respect and to be
respected by others. Gaining self-respect: this is the core
idea, the main thematic context behind the story of Rocky.
Every decision behind the composition of every shot can now
be designed to support this core idea, with a visual strategy (the set of decisions related to the use of stocks, color,
lighting, lenses, depth of field, filtration, and color correction, among others) that reflects the theme of self-respect
throughout the film. If the unfilmed script for Rocky landed
on your desk and you were given a one-in-a-million chance
to direct the film, how would you go about creating compositions that reflect the core idea of “regaining self-respect?”
4
You could, for instance, plot the journey Rocky takes toward
self-respect, so that the scenes at the beginning of the film,
while he is still unmotivated to change his ways, are shot
from a slight high angle, making him look like he lacks confidence and feels psychologically vulnerable (the conventional
use of a high angle shot, but used here within a well thoughtout context and visual strategy). As Rocky trains harder and
focuses on his goal, the camera could slowly switch to using
slight low angle shots, subtly conveying his increasing confidence and change in attitude. This simple decision alone
could be enough to create compositions that reflect your take
on the story, but you could have combined it with any of the
rules of composition shown in this book as well. You could,
for instance, create a visual strategy where the placement
of the character in the frame is also plotted throughout the
film to match his journey toward self-respect, so that he is
placed off-center, in consistently unbalanced compositions
at the beginning of the film and in more balanced framings
toward the end, or use wide angle lenses and then switch to
telephotos, or start with shallow depths of field and then use
deep depths of field, or use handheld shots at the beginning
and static shots toward the end; you get the point.
Whatever visual strategy you decide to use based
on the core ideas of your story should be used consistently
throughout your film for your audience to understand its intended meaning within the context you created. This means
that the compositional choices you make should work at every level of your film, starting with every single shot, then
every scene, every sequence, and the entire film as a whole.
If you use a particular shot composition to mean “he lacks
confidence” at one point in your story, you should then avoid
using the same shot composition to mean anything else
other than “lacking confidence,” or else the audience will
fail to connect with the core ideas in your story even if they
can follow the events that take place in it. Every shot counts,
no matter how inconsequential it might seem (and no shot
should be inconsequential in the first place since it is included in your film, right?).
Going back to the shot of the young couple sitting
on the couch. What could the director have done differently?
The right questions to ask really are: what is the core idea of
his story? What about the core idea of that particular scene?
What is this scene really about besides the couple trying to
avoid having an argument? Based on the answers to these
questions, the director could have devised a visual strategy
to support the core ideas of his story; he could have then
created compositions that supported them, using the rules
of cinematic composition analyzed in this book. Following (or
breaking, provided you do it within the proper context) the
rules of cinematic composition can ensure that you create
visually compelling images, but they can only truly connect
with an audience when they express your vision of the story;
this is the most important step you can take to develop your
own visual style and voice as a filmmaker.
FINDING THE FRAME
5
principles of composition
and technical concepts
aspect ratios
frame axes
Every compositional decision you make will be first defined
by the dimensions of your frame. The ratio between the width
and height of the frame is referred to as the aspect ratio, and
it differs depending on the shooting format. The most common aspect ratios are 2.39:1 (called anamorphic or scope,
originally 2.35:1 until the 1970s), 1.85:1 (American theatrical standard, also called “flat”), 1.66:1 (European theatrical
standard), 1.78:1 (the HDTV standard that is also called 16x9,
used in HD cameras), and 1.33:1 (the aspect ratio of 16mm
and 35mm shooting formats, and also the theatrical format
used until the 1950s, and analog TV). It is essential to know
both the aspect ratio of the shooting format and the exhibition/distribution format to ensure that the compositional
choices you make as part of your visual strategy in production will be preserved.
Since the frame is essentially two-dimensional, it is defined
by two axes, a horizontal or x axis, and a vertical or y axis. A
third axis that denotes the depth in a frame, or z axis, can be
emphasized by the use of depth cues (examined later in this
chapter), to create deep frames, or purposely understated,
to create flat frames, as shown in the two examples below
from Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008). Most often however,
filmmakers tend to create compositions in depth, emphasizing the z axis to overcome the inherent flatness of the frame
and enhance verisimilitude. Perceived distances and movement along each one of these axes can also be manipulated
by the type of lens used, altering the visual relationship between subjects and the space around them.
y axis
z axis
1.66:1
x axis
1.78:1
frame axes
1.85:1
2.39:1
most common exhibition/distribution aspect ratios
6
a deep frame that emphasizes the z axis
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50002-X
a flat frame that understates the z axis
the rule of thirds
Some of the conventions used to create visually harmonious
compositions have been developed over hundreds of years
of artistic experimentation and development; one of the oldest is known as the rule of thirds. By dividing the frame into
thirds along its width and height, sweet spots are created
at their cross points, providing a guide for the placement of
important compositional elements that results in dynamic
compositions. The lines themselves are also often used as
guides for the placement of horizons in extreme long shots
and establishing shots. When subjects are placed in the
frame according to the rule of thirds, it is common to position their eyes over one of these spots, the top left sweet spot
if they are looking towards the right side of the frame, or
the top right if they are looking at the left side of the frame,
as seen in the example in the next column from Wong Kar
Wai’s Fallen Angels (1995). This placement ensures that
they are given enough looking room, a convention designed
to balance the composition by countering the compositional
weight of the subject’s gaze. If looking room is not added (for
instance by placing the subject at the center of the frame
while they are looking toward either side) the composition
will feel static and lack visual tension, which in some cases
might be exactly what you want to convey. The placement
of a subject using the top line also gives them the proper
amount of headroom: the positioning of the subject’s head
in relation to the top of the frame. The amount of headroom
is a function of the size of the subject in the frame, so that
subjects in a close up should have their heads cropped by
the top of the frame for proper headroom, while subjects in
a long shot should have a sizable amount of headroom above
their heads. The rule of thirds also applies to subject placement as they move across the x axis of the frame; if they are
moving toward the right side, they should be placed along
the left vertical line to give them proper walking room, and
vice versa, unless you want to create a composition that purposely feels uneasy and unbalanced.
subject placement using the rule of thirds
Hitchcock’s rule
An amazingly simple yet extremely effective principle that
Alfred Hitchcock shared with François Truffaut during the
writing of Truffaut’s Hitchcock/Truffaut, states that the
size of an object in the frame should be directly related to
its importance in the story at that moment. This principle
can be applied whether you have only one or several visual
elements in the frame, and can be used to create tension
and suspense, especially when the audience does not know
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS 7
the reason behind the visual emphasis being placed on the
object or subject. In the example below, from Rob Reiner’s
Misery (1990), a tiny ceramic penguin is composed so that it
fills the frame, since it will be the clue that later alerts Annie
(Kathy Bates) that Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a writer she
has imprisoned in her house, has in fact managed to leave
his locked room.
and tension. Ultimately, the feeling that can be communicated by the use of balanced and unbalanced compositions
will depend largely on the narrative context in which they are
being used. In the example below, from Zhang Yimou’s Hero
(top, 2004), a balanced composition is used to convey that we
are about to see a duel between equally-matched adversaries, adding suspense and tension to the scene. The placement of subjects in the example from John Hillcoat’s The
Proposition (bottom, 2005), also creates tension by framing them in an unbalanced composition as they witness the
unjust punishment of a young man. Note that although the
composition is unbalanced, with most of the visual weight on
the bottom right corner of the frame, the main subject was
still positioned according to the rule of thirds.
Hitchcock’s rule in action
balanced/unbalanced compositions
Every object included in a frame carries with it a visual weight.
The size, color, brightness, and placement of an object can
affect the audience’s perception of its relative visual weight,
making it possible to create compositions that feel balanced
when the visual weight of the objects in the frame is evenly
distributed, or unbalanced when the visual weight is concentrated in only one area of the frame. Although the terms balanced and unbalanced have no inherent value judgement in
terms of composition, it is not uncommon to find balanced
compositions that have their visual weight distributed symmetrically or evenly in the frame being used to convey order, uniformity, and predetermination. Likewise, unbalanced
compositions are often associated with chaos, uneasiness,
8
a balanced composition
an unbalanced composition
high and low angles
The height of the camera relative to a subject can be used to
manipulate the audience’s relationship to that subject. Eyelevel shots place the camera at a height that matches the
subject’s eyes. A high angle shot places the camera above
eye-level, and results in a framing that has the audience
looking down on a subject. A low angle shot, on the other
hand, places the camera below eye-level, and lets the audience look up at a subject. It is very common to see low
angle shots used to convey confidence, power, and control,
and high angle shots weakness, passiveness, and powerlessness, but these interpretations are not absolute and can
be subverted based on the context in which they are presented. A common misuse of high and low angle shots is
to frame the subject at too steep an angle, which results in
a very dynamic but at times distracting composition. Only
a minor adjustment of the placement of the camera right
below or above eye level is sufficient to make an impression in the minds of the audience. The two examples on the
left, from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of
Others (2006), use this principle to convey two very different
emotional states; the top frame uses a slight low angle that
shows a confident and even menacing Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe),
an officer for the Stasi, as he systematically and mercilessly
interrogates a suspect until he makes him confess. The bottom frame, from much later in the film, uses a high angle
that emphasizes the tension and fear he experiences as he
monitors agents raiding the house of a dramatist he protects
at great personal risk.
depth cues
low angle shot
high angle shot
Creating depth to overcome the inherent two-dimensionality
of the frame is one of the most common compositional strategies designed to produce a dynamic frame and a believable
three dimensional space. While there are several techniques
to add depth to a composition, two of the most frequently
used by filmmakers are the relative size and object overlapping depth cues. The relative size depth cue is based on our
assumption that if two objects are of the same size, seeing
a smaller one is perceived as it being farther away, creating the illusion of depth. Filmmakers exploit this technique
by placing subjects along the z axis of the frame, as shown
in the example on the next page from Quentin Tarantino’s
Inglourious Basterds (top, 2009). Object overlapping entails
just what its name says: the overlapping of objects along the
z axis. When an object is seen partially covering or overlapping another object, we perceive the covered object as being farther away from us, creating the illusion of depth in
the composition. The use of this technique by filmmakers
usually involves finding any excuse to place something in
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS 9
the foreground of the frame, partially blocking our view of
the focal point of the composition. The O.T.S., or over the
shoulder shot, is probably the most common example of this
technique, but it is not uncommon to see filmmakers place
objects in the foreground simply to add depth to the frame,
as seen in Michael Bay’s The Rock (bottom, 1996), where the
chains in the foreground add depth and frame the subject
(Nicolas Cage) within the frame, ensuring he is the focal
point of the composition.
purpose is contained within the edges of the frame. Open
frames do not contain all the necessary information to understand their narrative meaning, and therefore require
and draw attention to the existence of elements off-screen.
Many compositional techniques are designed to imply the
existence of off-screen space, since it acknowledges that
the frame does not contain the entire world of the story, but
instead acts like a window through which a larger world exists. However, there are benefits to using both of these types
relative size depth cue
a closed frame
overlapping objects
closed frames and open frames
Closed frames refer to shots that do not acknowledge or require the existence of off-screen space to convey their narrative meaning, since all the information necessary for this
10
an open frame
of frames depending on the needs of your story. Off-screen
space is also exploited to create tension and suspense,
particularly in the thriller and horror genres. In the two examples on the previous page, from Uli Edel’s The Baader
Meinhof Complex (2008), a closed frame (top) is used to emphasize the isolation Ulrike (Martina Gedeck), a member of
a German terrorist organization, feels while serving time in
jail. The open frame used in the second example adds tension to a shoot-out between Petra (Alexandra Maria Lara),
another member of the organization, and the German police
trying to apprehend her after she broke through a roadblock.
focus and out of focus, what is lit and unlit, and what visually dominates the frame, you can create compositions that
will not be misunderstood by your audience; this is one of
the most important principles to create eloquent, compelling images. The frame below, from Rolf de Heer’s Bad Boy
Bubby (1993), is a particularly good example of a composition
with a very strong focal point, utilizing a visual trope (looking to the horizon as if to their future) that has been used by
filmmakers as varied as George Lucas and Werner Herzog.
focal points
This rule is designed to maintain the spatial continuity that
should exist whenever subjects interact in a scene, and will
therefore directly impact where they should be placed in the
frame. Simply put, it states that the camera should always
One way to ensure your compositions clearly convey the idea
or concept you want to communicate is to use strong focal
points. Focal points refer to the center of interest in a composition, the area where the viewer’s gaze will gravitate to
because of the arrangement of all the visual elements in
the frame. Focal points can include one or several subjects,
and are commonly created by using the rules of composition listed previously in this chapter, like the rule of thirds,
Hitchcock’s rule, and balanced/unbalanced compositions. In
fact, you will notice that nearly all of the examples used in
this book have very strong focal points. By carefully selecting what is included and excluded from the frame, what is in
a composition with a strong focal point
180˚ rule
following the 180˚ rule
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS 11
be placed on only one side of the imaginary line that is created by the looking or moving direction of the characters as
established in wider shots. If the rule is not followed and
the line is crossed, the resulting shots will not cut together
properly, since subjects will not appear to be facing the right
direction. In the examples on the previous page, from Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998), a conversation between Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn) and Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel)
places each camera angle on the same side of the 180˚ line,
so that their looking direction remains consistent.
Sgt. Welsh
field of view
Field of view refers to how much space along the x and y
axis a lens can include in the frame. Lenses with short focal
lengths (wide angles) have a greater field of view than lenses
with long focal lengths (telephotos). Understanding this concept can let you include or exclude visual elements in your
composition simply by choosing a lens based on focal length
and its corresponding field of view.
w
Pvt. Witt
n
t
180° line
focal length
One way to classify lenses is according to their focal length,
which equals the measurement, in millimeters, from the optical center (the point in the lens where the image is flipped
and reversed) to the recording surface (a film frame or a
CCD, or charge-coupled device, sensor in a video camera).
Understanding focal length is important because it has a direct impact on the way lenses show perspective along the
z axis, and on the field of view spanning the x axis. Lenses
that reproduce perspective the way a human eye sees it are
called normal; in the 16mm format, a normal lens has a focal length of 25mm, while in the 35mm format, a normal lens
has a 50mm focal length. Any lens that has a focal length
shorter than the normal for its format is referred to as a wide
angle lens, while any lens with a focal length longer than the
normal is called a telephoto lens.
12
field of view of a wide (w), normal (n) and a telephoto lens (t)
wide angle lenses
Wide angle lenses capture a wider field of view than normal
and telephoto lenses, and distort distances along the z axis,
making them appear longer than they actually are. These
lenses also exaggerate the perceived rate of movement
along the z axis, so that if a subject approaches or moves
away from the lens it will appear to do so much faster than
normal. Wide angles produce the appearance of a deeper
depth of field than normal or telephoto lenses, but if their
focal length is too short (a feature of “fisheye” lenses) they
can distort the edges of the frame, creating what is called a
“barreling” effect. Wide angle lenses are not commonly used
too close to a subject, because of the distortion they can add
to faces, as seen in the example on the next column, from
Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels (1995).
produced by these lenses looks shallow, but there are other
factors at play that are examined closer in the depth of field
section of this chapter. A good example of a creative use of
the telephoto lens can be seen in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry
Lyndon (1975, below); the distortion of distances along the
z axis produced by the telephoto is exploited to compress a
dense formation of soldiers, emphasizing the cohesiveness,
power, and unity of purpose of the advancing Prussian army.
wide angle lens distortion
normal lenses
Normal lenses reproduce perspective in a way that closely
resembles what a person would see if he or she stood where
the camera is, except for the field of view, which is much
greater in human eyesight thanks to our peripheral vision.
Normal lenses are commonly used for shooting human subjects, especially close ups, since they do not distort faces like
wide angle or telephoto lenses do. Distances and movement
along the z axis of the frame are not exaggerated with normal lenses.
telephoto lenses
Long focal length lenses, also called telephotos, have a narrower field of view than normal and wide angle lenses, and
compress space along the z axis of the frame. Because of
this, telephoto lenses appear to bring the background of an
image closer to the foreground, flattening space; movement
along the z axis is also distorted, so that subjects walking
toward of away from the lens look like they are hardly moving. Telephoto lenses flatten facial features, so they are not
commonly used for close ups of subjects unless they are
only slightly longer than a normal lens. The depth of field
telephoto lens distortion
fast vs. slow lenses
The aperture is the mechanism within a lens which controls
the amount of light entering to expose an image on a film
frame or CCD sensor. The maximum aperture of a lens (as
measured in f-stops), or how much light it lets through when
set at its widest opening, forms the basis to classify lenses
according to their speed. Lenses with a very wide maximum
aperture are called fast, meaning that they require very little
light to register an image; for instance, f 1.4 or f 1.8. Lenses
with smaller maximum apertures, like f 2.8 and smaller,
are called slow, and require more light to register an image. While having a faster lens is invariably a better option,
they are much more expensive than slower lenses. On the
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS 13
other hand, they can save you money and time in the long
run, since they require less light than slower lenses and let
you shoot longer after the sun sets (and way after a slow
lens becomes unusable because your light meter tells you
to open up to f 1.4).
prime lenses
Lenses that have a single (or fixed) focal length are known
as prime lenses. If the quality of the image is the main priority, these lenses are preferred over variable focal length
lenses, or zooms, because they can produce better images
in terms of contrast, color, and resolution. Primes are also
lighter than zooms, because they have fewer internal lens
elements. When compared to zoom lenses, primes have a
shorter minimum focusing distance, and are generally faster
(they have a wider maximum aperture). However, primes are
also more time-consuming to use, because they need to be
changed every time a different focal length is needed, requiring careful and meticulous handling.
zoom lenses
Zoom lenses are also known as variable focal length lenses,
because they have the capability to slide through various
focal lengths, often including wide, normal, and telephoto.
This is accomplished through a complex mechanism that allows the user to manually adjust the position of elements in
the lens housing, effectively changing its optical center. The
zoom ratio of a zoom lens refers to its focal length range;
a 10:1 zoom means that it can increase its focal length 10
times, going from 12mm to 120mm, for instance. A drawback of using zoom lenses is that because they have more
elements than prime lenses, they are slower (the maximum
aperture of a zoom lens is always smaller than that of a prime
lens). The extra elements in a zoom also tend to produce inferior quality images than those that can be obtained with an
14
equivalent prime lens. On the other hand, zoom lenses let
you work faster because you no longer have to stop shooting
every time you need to change the focal length by switching
to a different lens. In addition, zoom lenses let you change
the focal length even during a shot, which is impossible with
a prime lens.
specialized lenses
There are lenses that differ in their construction from primes
and zooms, and are generally only used under special circumstances when a specific effect is needed. The tilt-shift
lens, for instance, has a movable front element that can be
swung, allowing the user to create compositions where two
subjects on the same plane of focus will have only one of
them in focus. Another specialized lens is the split field diopter, which attaches over your lens and lets you have two
subjects at different distances along the z axis in focus simultaneously. A drawback of using this lens attachment is
that an area of blurriness is created where the two lenses
meet, which filmmakers often conceal by placing it somewhere in the frame where it will not be too evident, as shown
in the example from Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables
(1987) below. Other specialized lenses include wide angle
and telephoto converters, which attach to the native lens of
a video camera to achieve a wider or narrower field of view
split field diopter in action
than the factory lens provides. Although these attachments
are relatively inexpensive, there is a clear compromise, since
they generally produce images of diminished quality in terms
of contrast, color, and sharpness (which becomes even more
evident when projected on a large screen). Another kind of
specialized lenses include macros, which allow you to focus
extremely close to a subject to capture very small details;
these lenses are examined further in the macro shot chapter.
depth of field
Depth of field refers to the distance range along the z axis
that will be in acceptable focus, meaning sharp. A composition with a deep depth of field has a large area in focus,
while a composition with a shallow depth of field has only a
small area of the frame in focus. The aperture of a lens is a
major factor in manipulating depth of field. Larger apertures
that let in more light produce images that have a shallow
depth of field, while smaller apertures that let in less light
produce images with deeper depths of field. Another way to
control depth of field is by changing the distance between
the camera and the subject; placing the camera closer to
the subject results in a shorter focusing distance, which produces a shallow depth of field. Placing the camera farther
away from a subject increases the focusing distance, resulting in a deeper depth of field. If the size of a subject in the
frame is kept constant, focal length is not a factor in changing the depth of field. When the size of a subject is not kept
constant, increasing the focal length (by using a telephoto
lens, for instance) will produce shallow depth of field, while
decreasing the focal length (by using a wide angle lens) will
produce a deep depth of field. Another determining factor is
the size of the shooting format you choose for your project;
this is explained in the shooting formats section of this chapter. Being able to produce a shallow depth of field will allow
you to isolate your subject in the frame by keeping other visual elements out of focus; this prevents the audience from
shallow depth of field
deep depth of field
being distracted and directs their attention to the subject.
Alternatively, a deep depth of field makes every visual element sharp and therefore noticeable by the audience, adding information that can augment their understanding of a
subject. Depth of field is one of the most visually expressive
and powerful tools you can use to manipulate the composition of a shot. In the two examples above, from Mel Gibson’s
Apocalypto (2006), depth of field is used creatively to indicate
the dynamics within a group of Mayan warriors. In the top
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS 15
frame, a shallow depth of field is employed to visually isolate Middle Eye (Gerardo Taracena) after he acted against
the will of their leader, Zero Wolf (Raoul Trujillo). In the bottom frame, from later in the film, Middle Eye has stopped
questioning his leader and rejoined the group, united behind
a single purpose. This dynamic is conveyed visually with the
use of a deep depth of field.
camera to subject distance
The camera to subject distance is measured from the film
plane, the area inside a camera where the light gathered
by the lens reaches the film or the CCD sensor, to the subject, and is used to achieve critical focus (the sharpest possible image). Often, filmmakers will decrease the camera to
subject distance to produce a shallower depth of field, although doing this will also change the size of the subject in
the frame. Conversely, increasing the camera to subject distance will also increase the depth of field, and decrease the
size of the subject in the frame. Using a zoom lens to change
the camera to subject distance while maintaining the size
of the subject constant will not have an effect in the depth
of field, but will affect the perception of it. For instance, a
zoom with an aperture setting of f 4 set as a telephoto will
appear to have shallow depth of field when compared to the
same zoom with the same aperture set as a wide angle. In
fact, the depth of field will be practically identical, but since
the telephoto lens compresses space along the z axis, the
background will appear to be much closer, making it easier
to see that it is out of focus.
neutral density filtration
An effective way to control the depth of field in a composition
is through the aperture of the lens, but you cannot simply
open up or close down without compensating for the light
you are losing or gaining as a result, or your exposure will
16
be completely off. When shooting outdoors on a sunny day, it
would be impossible to create a shallow depth of field without the use of Neutral Density, or ND, filtration. These filters are calibrated to cut light in precise f-stop increments
(cutting light by 1, 2, or 3 f-stops). ND filters work just like
sunglasses for your lenses, affecting only the quantity, not
quality, of the light that reaches the film or CCD sensor. Using these filters and a depth of field chart (a table that lists
the various depths of field that result from a specific camera
to subject distance, focal length, and aperture setting), it is
possible to accurately determine how many f-stops you need
to close down or open up to produce the depth of field you
want. When shooting indoors with highly controllable artificial light, it is usually not difficult to shoot with the larger
apertures needed to produce a shallow depth field. However,
achieving deep depths of field while shooting indoors with
artificial lighting poses a problem, because of the extreme
lighting requirements necessary to shoot with small apertures. Some professional-grade SD and HD cameras come
equipped with internal ND filtration, typically letting you cut
light in increments that are equivalent to 3 and 6 f-stops of
light (labelled on the camera as 1/8 and 1/64, denoting the
amount of light that gets through when the filter is activated).
shooting formats
Your choice of shooting format will have a major impact on
many aspects of your visual strategy, but one of the most
important has to do with the depth of field you can produce.
The smaller the size of the film frame or CCD sensor, the
deeper the depth of field will be, and the more difficult it will
become to produce shallow depths of field. The reason is directly related to the size of the lens used; smaller formats
use smaller lenses, since the area being used to record an
image is small. For instance, if you are shooting with 16mm
film and you use a 25mm lens (considered a “normal” lens
for this format), your depth of field at f 5.6 with a lens focused
at 10 feet will be roughly 10 feet. Shooting the same shot
with 35mm film, at the same f-stop and camera to subject
distance with a 50mm lens (considered “normal” for this format), will yield a depth of field of only 3 1/2 feet. The reason is
simple; a 50mm lens for the 35mm film format is physically
larger, with a longer focal length than its 16mm equivalent.
Now consider SD (standard definition) and HD (high definition) cameras, which use CCD sensors that are many times
35mm academy
2/3” CCD
1/3” CCD
1/4” CCD
16mm
S16mm
Before the advent of HD video, super 16, or S16, was a popular alternative to approximate the look of 35mm film at a
much lower cost. As you can see from the illustration on the
left, the frame size is slightly larger than a regular 16mm
film frame; this is achieved by using a wider aperture plate
that extends to an area of the standard 16mm negative that
used to have an optical soundtrack. This results in a frame
that uses 20% more negative area, producing an image that
has significantly more resolution than standard 16mm. This
extra detail becomes crucial when S16 is blown up to 35mm
for theatrical distribution (S16 is not a distribution format),
since this process tends to magnify grain and any flaws present in the image. S16 is also ideal for HD transfers, because
its native 1.66:1 aspect ratio closely approximates the 1.78:1
(or 16x9) aspect ratio of HDTV; regular 16mm has to be severely cropped to fit in this aspect ratio, wasting a large area
of the negative and losing resolution in the process. However, the larger size of the S16 format does not bring with it the
ability to create shallower depths of field, since its lenses are
basically the same size as those used for standard 16mm,
producing the same depth of field as a result.
CCD sensors and film format sizes
35mm lens adapter kits
smaller than a 16mm film frame; the lenses for these video formats are even smaller, and therefore shorter in focal
length, than their larger format equivalents (as seen in the
illustration above; not actual size, but magnified to illustrate
relative sizes). This is the main reason why it is so difficult
to create shallow depth of field when shooting with formats
smaller than 35mm, especially with video formats that have
extremely small CCD sensors. However, we could also reverse this argument, and say that it is very difficult to create
deep depths of field when shooting with formats larger than
16mm; you might, for instance, devise a visual strategy that
relies on having a deep depth of field, and therefore prefer
shooting with a smaller format that will make this possible.
A small number of companies have developed lens adapter
kits that allow you to attach a 35mm format lens to an SD or
HD camera. With these kits, you can produce images with
shallow depth of field that would otherwise be very difficult
or impossible to produce with video formats. These adapters work by focusing the image from the 35mm lens on a
vibrating ground glass; the native lens on your video camera
is then focused to record this image. Because 35mm lenses
are so much larger than the lens on your video camera (since
they were designed to create an image large enough to fill
a 35mm film frame), they can easily produce compositions
with a shallow depth of field. This, coupled with the higher
resolution of an HD camera and 24p progressive shooting,
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS
17
makes it possible to create images that approximate the feel
and look of film-originated material (although HD still cannot match the dynamic range or resolution of 35mm film).
It is important to take into account that using an adapter
will cut a certain amount of light, anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3
of an f-stop. While this might not sound like a lot of light,
if you are shooting indoors with artificial light or night exteriors with available light, 1/2 f-stop can be the difference
between having a usable image and not being able to shoot
unless you have additional lighting. Another important fact to
keep in mind is that these adapters usually do not permit you
to close down the aperture too much (commonly around f
5.6), or else the texture of the ground glass becomes visible,
making your images look like they were shot using a very
heavy black pro mist filter with a grainy texture. The shallow
depth of field you will get with an adapter will make it more
difficult to ascertain critical focus without the use of a large
external HD LCD preview monitor; the small LCD flip-out
screen that comes with most HD cameras simply does not
have the resolution to do this, and can make a slightly blurry
shot appear to be in focus. An extremely useful tool to use
with a lens adapter kit is a follow focus attachment, which
can help you focus quickly and accurately. This geared device
attaches a wheel that protrudes perpendicularly to the lens,
so that a focus puller (a camera crew member whose job is
to maintain focus while taking a shot) can much more easily
access and control the focusing ring.
there are still millions of SD cameras out there. Whichever video format you choose for your project, you should be
aware of the advantages and shortcomings they will entail.
The biggest difference between the SD and HD cameras is,
of course, resolution. The standard SD video frame has a
resolution of only 720x480 pixels, while HD cameras record
frames of 1280x720 and 1920x1080 pixels in size, depending
on the camera being used. The higher resolution of HD lets
you capture details and render a range of color that is impossible in SD video. This might not be immediately apparent
if you are shooting a close up of a subject, but if your composition is a wider shot with a lot of minute details, the extra resolution can make a big difference. Some professional
SD and most HD cameras also allow you to capture footage
at a 24p, or progressive, frame rate, instead of the standard
30 interlaced frames per second (actually, 29.97 frames per
second) which was the only choice for shooting SD video in
the past. Shooting at 24p allows the footage to have the same
motion artifacts, or degree of blurriness, we have been conditioned to see as “normal” when watching films, since they
are also shot at 24 frames per second. Watching side by side
identical footage of video shot at 24p and 30i (or interlaced) is
startling; even if both videos have the same exact same resolution of 720x480 pixels, the footage shot at 24p will seem
SD and HD video
High Definition, or HD, is rapidly becoming the format of
choice for both shooting and broadcasting digital video. Advances in technology are making features that were previously only available on high-end HD cameras (like variable
frame rates) available on prosumer (professional-consumer)
grade cameras. On the other hand, Standard Definition, or
SD, video is slowly but surely being phased out, although
18
SD and HD frame sizes
much more film-like, since it will not have the added crispness those 6 extra frames per second add.
Prosumer SD and HD cameras also let you control
the way the camera responds to light, allowing you to tweak
areas of under and overexposure to produce images that
have a wider exposure range than what is commonly seen in
material shot with less expensive SD cameras. This means
that footage shot with cameras that have “gamma compression” or “cine-gamma” settings can produce images that
will have a range of tonalities that resemble (although not
match) the exposure range of film-originated material. If
your aim is to produce footage that will have the feel and look
of film without the expense of actually shooting film, then HD
video shot at 24p with cine-gamma is your best choice. You
might, however, purposely want your footage to have the look
and feel of standard SD video, with less resolution than HD,
the motion artifacts of 30i, and a narrower exposure range
as part of your visual strategy; it worked wonders for Daniel
Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’ The Blair Witch Project (1999).
Most prosumer and professional video cameras also
come equipped with a gain switch, normally with three settings (low, medium, and high), which allows you to boost the
sensitivity of the CCD sensor for shooting under low-light
conditions. While it might be tempting to engage this switch
to shoot under these conditions, you should be aware that
using gain invariably adds video noise to your image, even if
it is not visible while you are shooting (since the small LCD
screens most cameras come equipped with do not have
enough resolution to display it). Unless having video noise is
part of your visual strategy, you should avoid using gain, and
make sure you have sufficient lighting instead.
on the field of view of a given lens and format. Consistently
using a director’s viewfinder is a good way to become familiar with the aesthetic characteristics of particular focal
lengths, specifically field of view, z axis perspective, and apparent motion across the frame. Unfortunately, good director’s viewfinders are not cheap, easily costing a few hundred
dollars. There are smaller models available, but they have
rather small viewfinders that make it hard to see what the
frame looks like. If you do invest in one, you will find many
opportunities to use it, for instance during preproduction for
location scouting (letting you preview potential shots), and
during production (letting you quickly select the appropriate
lens and position of the camera without having to physically move it). Alternatively, you can also use a digital or even
an SLR still camera as a director’s viewfinder, provided you
know or can calculate the equivalent field of view and focal
length of the lens in that camera to the lenses used by the
shooting format you choose for your project. Lastly, you can
always use your hands to create an ad hoc frame that will let
you roughly see what can be included or excluded in a composition. Whichever method you choose, you will eventually
become more discriminating about the composition of your
shots; your eye will naturally scan the entire frame and not
just the focal points, and you will begin to naturally discover
visual relationships between elements in your frame that you
could not see previously.
director’s viewfinder
One tool you should try to use as much as possible to train
your eye is a director’s viewfinder; a small viewing glass that
lets you see what the framing of a shot will be depending
a director’s viewfinder
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION AND TECHNICAL CONCEPTS
19
1
2
Oldboy. Park Chan-wook, 2003.
20
image system
The term “image system” was originally introduced by film
theorists, in articles that tried to create a systematic understanding of film through the analysis of images, editing patterns, shot composition, and ideological tendencies
of certain directors. In some film theories, image systems
are used to decode the layers of meaning a film might have,
based on the connotations certain images have in addition
to their literal meaning. For instance, a shot of a character
looking at his reflection in a mirror can also signify the concept of a divided self and internal conflict, because of the
symbolic meanings associated with mirrors and reflections
in psychoanalytic theory; this is a common visual trope found
in many films dealing with characters who have personality
disorders or are suffering internal conflicts. Image system
also has a much simpler definition, most often used by filmmakers and screenwriters; it refers to the use of recurrent
images and compositions in a film to add layers of meaning to a narrative. The repetition of images can be a powerful tool to introduce themes, motifs, and symbolic imagery
that might or might not be explicitly dealt with within the plot
of the film. It can also be used to show character growth,
foreshadow important information, and create associative
meanings between characters that are not explicit in the
story. Because the experience of watching a film relies so
much on the use of images (although not exclusively, since
the film experience always has involved a sound component,
even when films were technically silent), most films have
an image system at work at some level, whether the filmmaker intends to have one or not. This visual recalling and
comparison is inherent in the way audiences extract meaning from images to understand a story, constantly making
connections between and within shots. Image systems can
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50003-1
be very subtle, repeating certain shot compositions, colors,
and imagery in ways that are not easy to notice at first but
are nonetheless internalized by the audience on a subliminal level. In this case, only some viewers might notice the
repetition of images and shot compositions and infer their
narrative significance, decoding an additional layer of meaning to their understanding of the story. Other viewers, however, might completely miss the connections, accessing only
the main narrative of a film. Some filmmakers make the
image system in their films overt and impossible to ignore,
imbuing numerous shots with iconic, graphic, or symbolic
significance, sometimes at the expense of letting the audience connect with the story; this is generally not a good idea,
since image systems work best when they support and add
meaning to, and not become, the point of your film.
Image systems do not have to rely solely on the repetition of images to make a narrative point. An image system
could consist, for example, of shots in which the distance
between two key characters is gradually diminished (through
actual blocking or by using increasingly longer focal lengths
to visually compress the distance between them along the z
axis) as their relationship deepens, or shots that gradually
switch from high angles to low angles to signal that a character becomes more assertive as the story progresses. An
important distinction to keep in mind is that an image system should not be confused with a visual strategy (choices
regarding stocks, format, lenses, and lighting). These elements do not constitute an image system, but are instead
some of the tools that will make your image system work,
in combination with thoughtful shot composition, editing, art
direction, and any other element that can be used to develop
the explicit and implicit meanings of a shot.
IMAGE SYSTEM
21
Having an image system is not essential or mandatory; you
might not want to deal with having to create one and choose
instead to tell your story without any intended extra layers
of meaning. On the other hand, coming up with an image
system can be a very exciting experience that also helps you
get a clearer understanding of your story’s structure (necessary to make the image system consistent and meaningful).
To create an image system, you must first identify the core
ideas of your story, its main themes and motifs (something
you probably did when you devised the initial concept for the
visual strategy of your film). Once you know what your story
is really about, you can design an image system that supports your core ideas in overt or subtle ways that should be
consistently implemented throughout your film. Consistency
is essential if you want the image system to be recognized
by the audience; it should be used in a systematic way that
underlines only those events that are meaningful to the understanding of the concepts and motifs you want to highlight
in your story.
image system in Oldboy
Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy (2006) has an intricate image system that uses the repetition of shot compositions and symbolic imagery to add emotional depth to its story of obsession and revenge. Oldboy tells the story of Oh Dae-su (Choi
Min-sik), a businessman who gets kidnapped and is then
imprisoned for fifteen years; during that time, he learns that
his kidnappers have killed his wife and framed him for her
murder. Without explanation, Dae-su is suddenly released,
befriending a young woman named Mi-do (Kang Hye-jeong)
after he passes out at the restaurant where she works. With
22
her help, he finds out his daughter, an infant at the time of
his kidnapping, was adopted by a family living in another
country. He shortly receives a phone call from the man who
imprisoned him, who challenges him to find out the reason
behind his kidnapping, giving him a deadline of five days or
else he will have Mi-do killed. If he succeeds, the stranger
tells him he will kill himself instead. This sets Dae-su on
a race against time to save Mi-do and exact revenge on the
man who murdered his wife and took fifteen years of his life.
With Mi-do by his side, Dae-su succeeds in unraveling the
mystery behind his imprisonment; a millionaire by the name
of Woo-jin (Yu Ji-tae), who attended the same high school
as he, blamed him for the suicide of his sister after Daesu spread a rumor about their incestuous relationship. Unbeknownst to Dae-su, Woo-jin’s revenge had already taken
place by the time he finally confronts him, since he had manipulated everything that happened after his release to make
him and Mi-do fall in love. In one of the most shocking film
endings of the past few years, Dae-su discovers, to his horror, that Mi-do is in fact the daughter he thought had been
adopted fifteen years ago, and that Woo-jin’s revenge was to
have him commit incest with her.
The image system in Oldboy is tightly integrated with
its narrative; the repetition of compositions and motifs does
not work exclusively to add layers of meaning, but is at times
an active part of the story, used at key points to advance the
plot. For instance, Dae-su discovers that he has had an affair
with his daughter through a photo album with pictures of her
at different ages that include a photograph he held at the beginning of the film (figure 15), Woo-jin’s sister takes a photograph of herself seconds before she commits suicide, which
reappears at the end of the film in Woo-jin’s penthouse. The
repetition motif through the mirroring of events and images
are also used throughout the story: Dae-su sees his reflection on the photo album when he uncovers Woo-jin’s scheme,
Woo-jin’s sister stares at her reflection on a mirror while she
has an affair with her brother, a hypnotist makes Dae-su use
his reflection on a window to erase the memory of his incestuous affair, and Woo-jin’s revenge scheme is built around
making Dae-su fall in love and commit incest with a family
member, mirroring events from his life.
Oldboy also uses repetition in a variety of ways to
support the core ideas of the film, amplifying the dramatic
impact of the story. Figure 1 shows a painting that Dae-su
stares at throughout his imprisonment; it has an inscription
that reads “Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and
you weep alone” (a quotation from Solitude, a poem by Ella
Wheeler Wilcox). After he is released, he recites this line under his breath a number of times, whenever he finds himself
in a dire situation usually set up by Woo-jin. The expression
on the face in the painting is ambiguous, making it difficult
to tell if its subject (a man with wild hair that resembles Daesu) is smiling or crying. Figure 2 is from one of the last shots
in the film, shown after Dae-su has apparently erased the
memory of his incest and reunites with his daughter. Like
the man in the painting, it is difficult to tell if Dae-su is smiling or crying, suggesting the horrible possibility that he still
remembers the incestuous affair he was tricked into having.
His grimace would be heart-wrenching to watch even if the
audience did not have the context added by its similarity with
the face in the painting and the theme of solitude evoked by
the poem, but the visual connection between them and the
poem makes this moment in the narrative even more emotionally and psychologically complex.
Figures 3 and 4 show Dae-su in the opening scene of the
film, in what we later learn is a flashforward, preventing a
man from committing suicide. The striking composition
of these shots and the questions they generate (who are
these men? Why is he trying to kill that man?) make them
easy to recall when they are mirrored at the end of the film,
through a flashback (keeping with the theme of reflections
and mirrored images) that reveals Woo-jin’s sister committing suicide under strikingly similar circumstances (figures
5 and 6). The repetition of compositions and circumstances
shown here suggests a fateful connection exists between
Dae-su and Woo-jin, implying perhaps that in their effort to
exact revenge on each other, their obsessive behaviors have
made them very much alike. This similarity of behavior is
made clear several times throughout the film; Woo-jin goes
through an unbelievably convoluted scheme to make Dae-su
pay for this transgression, waiting fifteen years until Daesu’s daughter had become a woman to exact his revenge.
Dae-su, on the other hand, spends the last ten years of his
imprisonment transforming himself into a killing machine,
letting go of much of his humanity in the process as he also
prepares for revenge. By the time of their final confrontation,
their similarity is so pronounced that even the simple act of
putting on a shirt is visually connected by the use of almost
identical shot compositions and narrative emphasis, with an
extreme close up of Dae-su buttoning a cuff (figure 7), that is
recreated a few minutes later when Woo-jin is shown doing
the same thing (figure 8).
The symbolism associated with certain imagery is
also used to establish a connection between characters. Figure 9 shows Dae-su at the beginning of the film, showing off
a pair of toy angel wings he bought for his daughter the day
IMAGE SYSTEM
23
of his kidnapping; toward the end of the film, Woo-jin has
the wings delivered to Mi-do while Dae-su learns the truth
about his relationship with her. She tries the toy wings on
and attempts to make them flap, like her father did (figure
10). The repeated action and imagery adds poignancy to the
reappearance of the wings (they were finally delivered after
fifteen years), while the symbolism associated with angels
adds a religious subtext to these scenes; Mi-do and Dae-su
have fallen from grace because of the sin they committed
and can no longer fly. Religious imagery is also suggested by
the reenactment of a painting seen in the prison-room Mido stays in while waiting for Dae-su to come back from his
confrontation with Woo-jin. A close up of the painting shows
a little girl praying (figure 11), a composition that is recreated
in a long shot showing Mi-do praying (figure 12). Her connection with the painting in the prison-room also recalls Daesu’s connection with the painting in his own prison-room
while he remained in captivity (figures 1 and 2).
Image repetition is also directly acknowledged in the
plot, in a scene where Dae-su, following clues left by Woo-jin,
visits one of his old high school classmates at a hair salon.
While he gets information from her, a young woman enters
the shop; Dae-su, who moments before was shown to be
strangely attracted to her classmate’s exposed knees while
she was trying to recall a name, turns his attention to the
young woman’s knees, shown in a close up (figure 13). Suddenly, the sight of the girl’s knees triggers a memory in Daesu about an encounter he had in high school with Woo-jin’s
sister, introduced in a flashback also with a close up of her
knees (figure 14). Dae-su could not remember this encounter until he saw the girl’s knees, suggesting the possibility
24
that he might have blocked this memory of her because of
the psychological trauma he associated with this encounter.
This point is reinforced when Dae-su is shown going back to
the room where he witnessed Woo-jin and his sister having
their incestuous affair. It is only when he revisits the actual
spot where he spied on them that he is able to remember the
event and finally reveal the reason for Woo-jin’s revenge.
The image system in Oldboy also uses repetition to
show character growth and change. Figure 15 shows Dae-su
at the beginning of the film, holding a picture of his family
while drunk at a police station; during his final confrontation
with Woo-jin, that composition is repeated when he shows
him the picture his sister took seconds before her suicide
(figure 16). This time, however, Dae-su looks focused, determined, and threatening. He has essentially become a new
man, transformed by his ordeal, a change that is also reflected by the blood red shirt he wears here instead of the
white shirt he wore at the police station. These two shots
also summarize Dae-su’s arc in the story: he goes from living an inconsequential and carefree life to living a life filled
with purpose (revenge), from taking his family for granted
(he gets drunk and arrested on his daughter’s birthday) to
making them the focus of his life (he plans to avenge his
wife’s murder and eventually reunite with his daughter), from
being an out of shape businessman to becoming a one-man
killing machine.
A more typical use of an image system includes the
repetition of a particularly easy to remember image toward
the end of a film, signaling to the audience that the story
has come full circle and is therefore about to end. Figure 17
shows Dae-su being released from his imprisonment early
in the film after a hypnosis session, while figure 18 shows
him in the last scene in the film, after he wakes from another hypnosis session designed to make him forget the incestuous affair he had with his daughter. The composition
of both of these shots is purposely unusual and therefore
easy to recall by the audience, with both shots employing a
high-angle long shot that shows Dae-su staggering on the
ground. This particular use of an image system is very popular among filmmakers, even in films that do not incorporate
image systems as intricately as Oldboy does. One reason is
that repeating images in this way does more than bringing
the story full circle; it also gives the audience the impression
of narrative closure with no unresolved questions, even if this
is not truly the case.
Oldboy has a complex image system expertly interwoven with its narrative, used in a way that amplifies and
adds dramatic resonance to the themes and motifs that are
already present in its story. This is by far the best way to use
an image system, to deepen the emotional impact and audience engagement with a filmic narrative, adding layers of
meaning that reward an attentive audience and invite repeated viewings of a film, as new depths, dimensions, and
understandings can be gleaned every time the story is revisited. However, the implementation and effectiveness of an
image system also relies on the creation of meaningful, narratively compelling compositions for every basic shot of the
cinematic vocabulary, the topic of the rest of the chapters in
this book.
IMAGE SYSTEM
25
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Oldboy. Park Chan-wook, 2003.
26
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
IMAGE SYSTEM
27
Sex and Lucia. Julio Medem, 2001.
28
E. C. U.
extreme close up
The extreme close up allows you to concentrate the audience’s attention on a tiny detail of a character or on small
objects. While the close up lets the audience see nuances
of a performance that would normally be lost in wider shots,
the extreme close up can effectively isolate even smaller,
single visual details from the rest of the scene. If the detail
is extremely small, sometimes these shots are obtained with
the use of specialized lenses, and are called macro shots,
but narratively, they still function as extreme close ups. Using an extreme close up to frame a small object or a detail of
a character instantly generates the expectation that what is
being shown is important and meaningful to the narrative in
some way (an application of Hitchcock’s rule). Extreme close
ups can also be used to make very powerful visual statements within the image system of your story. A common use
of the extreme close up involves the isolating of an object or
a detail of a character that is seemingly unimportant, but
ends up playing a critical role later in the narrative. In this
case, the extreme close up visually underlines the importance of the object so that its reappearance will not seem
unjustified and artificially convenient, and to elicit the audience to anticipate a possible connection as the narrative
unfolds. In some cases, the extreme close up works as an
abstract shot, letting the audience focus on visual details
that might not be directly related to the narrative, but nonetheless add to the overall dramatic tone or thematic content
because of the abstract or symbolic qualities associated with
the image. A good example of this occurs during the opening of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), where after a series
of shots that include idyllic images of small-town America,
the montage ends with an extreme close up of black beetles
crawling under a perfectly manicured lawn; the beetles are
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50004-3
ultimately irrelevant to the plot, but their appearance within
the context of the sequence suggests the thematic idea that
primal violence can lurk beneath a surface of idealized social
order.
In the example on the opposite page, from Julio Medem’s Sex and Lucia (2001), an extreme close up is used to
concentrate the audience’s attention on the path of a single
tear as it rolls down the cheek of Elena (Najwa Nimri), a
woman who had a torrid affair with a man she met while on
a secluded Mediterranean island. The scene opens with a
graphic match dissolve from a full moon to a circular pregnancy test with a “plus” sign. Upon seeing it, she sheds a
tear that falls on the test, partially smearing the positive result. The visual emphasis the extreme close up places on
the tear (because of the closeness of the shot, and by using
camera movement to follow its path) imbues this detail with
symbolic and even poetic meaning, because of the associations it can elicit (salt water, the sea, tides, moon cycles,
menstrual cycles, pregnancy, etc.). In this case, the extreme
close up was used to make a thematic point that could only
be made with this type of shot.
This arresting extreme close up from Julio Medem’s Sex and
Lucia (2001) follows the path of a single tear as it runs down
the cheek of Elena (Najwa Nimri), a woman who just found
out she is pregnant. The tear, a reminder of the seawater in
which her fateful sexual encounter took place, will eventually
fall on a pregnancy test.
EXTREME CLOSE UP
29
extreme close up
why it works
One of the uses of the extreme close up is to make a strong
visual statement by concentrating the audience’s attention
on a small detail of a subject. This usually generates the expectation that this detail will have an important role to play in
the larger canvas of the story, even if it is unclear what that
will be when the shot is first presented. In this example from
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun
(1979), an extreme close up shows a pack of cigarettes early
in the film, after it is established that they are used as cur-
30
rency in Germany after WWII. At this time in the story it is
not clear why this shot (and the narrative emphasis it provides) is being used. At the end of the film, when the title
character meets her demise because of a pack of cigarettes,
we understand that this extreme close up was actually foreshadowing their importance in the story, adding an element
of inevitability to her life, while commenting on the political
history of Germany since World War II.
The tight framing of this shot lets you tweak the
lighting to make it visually compelling, as long as
the overall lighting continuity is maintained. The
medium shot that preceded this extreme close up
has lighting that comes from a completely different
angle, but since the light quality and overall look
were maintained, the discrepancy is unnoticeable.
Although this extreme close up contains only a
couple of packs of cigarettes, they were arranged
within the frame so that they are cropped, suggesting the existence of off-screen space. This is a
very common strategy designed to add depth to the
composition of a shot.
The shallow depth of field allows the selective
focusing of important areas of the composition,
further adding to the emphasis created by the
use of the extreme close up. In this case, the focus was chosen to underline two small details:
the word “Deutschland” (Germany) on the pack of
cigarettes, and the actual tobacco in the open pack.
The symbolism of the American product packaged
for German consumption is in line with the political
subtext explored in this film.
This cigarette is placed at the focal point of this
composition; the diagonals created by the two
packs naturally guide the viewer’s eye toward it,
while the use of shallow depth of field further isolates it from the rest of the frame. The use of these
compositional principles to emphasize a seemingly
unimportant object inevitably raises certain expectations about the role it plays in the story.
Because an extreme close up can reveal even
the minutest details of everything included in the
frame, it is a good idea to keep compositions free
of any visual elements that might distract the audience from the main subject. The effectiveness of
this shot would be severely reduced if, for instance,
the cigarettes were resting on a newspaper instead
of a white plate.
EXTREME CLOSE UP
31
technical considerations
lenses
Depending on the size of the subject being shot, long focal
length lenses or wide angles are more commonly used. Both
lenses can produce shallower depths of field (the telephoto
because of the optical characteristics inherent to this kind
of lens, and the wide angle because of the extremely short
distance it will require between the camera and the subject
to create a tight framing). Zoom lenses are at a disadvantage
if they are used as wide angles, since a prime wide angle
with the same focal length as a zoom at that setting will be
able to focus at a much closer distance, capturing smaller
details of the subject in the frame. The native zoom lenses
on many SD and HD cameras also make it relatively easy to
shoot extreme close ups, because their shorter focal lengths
(the result of the smaller-sized CCD sensors they use) allow
very short minimum focusing distances. In some cases, the
subject might be too small to capture with standard lenses
regardless of the format, requiring the use of specialized
lenses that allow you to focus even closer than a prime lens.
Shots that use these lenses are referred to as macro shots,
because they normally use a macro lens to capture the image (although there are other ways to get the same results;
please check out the macro shot chapter for more information).
format
The closeness of this shot sometimes makes it difficult to
see all the detail that will be captured, especially when using a wide angle lens that will probably be very close to the
subject. In these cases, the use of a large preview monitor
can be extremely helpful to see and fully exploit the textures
and visual details that an extreme close up will reveal when
projected. Shooting film will make using a preview monitor
impossible unless you have a film camera equipped with a
video assist system that will let you see what the lens is see32
ing. SD and prosumer HD cameras have a slight advantage
over film cameras in this regard, since they allow you to preview exactly what the resulting image will look like if you use
a preview monitor that approximates or matches the resolution of your shooting format. It is best to avoid using the LCD
displays that come with most cameras, since they are far too
small and lack the resolution and contrast to display every
detail being captured. The same cannot be said for film cameras, since even if you were to use an HD-capable monitor
to preview the feed sent from a video tap, it would not be capable of displaying the full resolution of negative film stock.
lighting
Whether the subject is a person or an object, lighting should
be planned and executed as carefully as if you were shooting
a key close up of one of your leading characters. It is easy to
forget that although you might be shooting something that
is very small, the size of this shot will make a strong visual
statement, making it critical that the lighting supports the
narrative point being made. The tightness of the framing will
most likely preclude the inclusion of light sources that were
established in wider shots, giving you license to add, move,
and change their direction to produce a shot that is visually
compelling, provided that overall lighting continuity is maintained (meaning that you should not suddenly light an extreme close up using a low-key, film noirish look if the wide
shot had high-key, soap opera-like lighting, and vice versa).
The example from Clockers on the opposite page takes full
advantage of this freedom to tweak the lighting; although in
the preceding wide shots the surrounding area of the interrogation room was clearly visible, in this extreme close up
the lighting was adjusted so that only the interrogator’s reflection can be seen on the eye, resulting in a visually striking
image.
breaking the rules
The tight angles in an extreme close up only allow you to show a tiny detail of your subject, but in this shot from Spike Lee’s
Clockers (1995), the reflective qualities of the human eye are cleverly exploited to include much more. When detective Rocco
(Harvey Keitel) interrogates Victor (Isaiah Washington) about the inaccuracies of a murder he has confessed to, he tells him: “I
want to see what you see” as this extreme close up is shown. The dramatic lighting in this visually compelling shot was carefully planned so that the detective’s reflection would be easy to notice on the pupil of the subject. Interestingly, the word “pupil”
comes from “pupilla,” the Latin for “little doll,” an ancient reference to the very phenomenon captured in this shot.
EXTREME CLOSE UP
33
WALL· E. Andrew Stanton, 2008.
34
C. U.
close up
The close up is a relative newcomer to the cinematic vocabulary; early silent films used only wide shots and no editing,
replicating the experience of watching a staged play. The
evolution of the language of cinema and the invention of editing eventually made the close up an essential element of the
cinematic vocabulary. The most important feature of a close
up is that it lets the audience see nuances of a character’s
behavior and emotion (especially those that play across the
face) that cannot be seen in wider shots. This simple principle has had profound effects on the way films are shot and
edited, and in the development of acting for film. Cinematic
performance styles quickly departed from the exaggeration
expected in the theatre, which was commonplace in early silent films, into a more naturalist style. The closeness and
intimacy of a close up lets audiences connect with a character (and a story) on an emotional level in ways that have
helped make movies the most popular art form in the world.
Filmmakers have found ways to maximize the connection
between subject and audience in close ups with the use of visual conventions designed to make the subject the unavoidable focal point of a shot. Technical advancements in lens
design, for instance, made it possible to achieve shallower
depths of field, blurring backgrounds to effectively isolate
the subject within the frame, preventing anything from distracting the audience from their emotional investment with
characters at that moment in the story. The close up’s visual
conventions have been so widely adopted that it is relatively
difficult to find (although not impossible) a close up with a
deep depth of field, or a film that does not use them at all.
Because of the potential for the close up to elicit the emotional involvement of the audience with a character, its use
should be carefully planned for key moments in a story; for
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50005-5
example, turning points (instances where a character makes
an important decision, usually after discovering or learning
something meaningful to them), reaction shots, and P.O.V.
shots. If close ups are overused, their dramatic impact will
be diluted, making them narratively meaningless within the
visual language of your film. Alternatively, close ups are also
used when the subject is small enough to require the level
of detail this shot size can reveal, or when the importance of
an object needs to be conveyed visually (a use of Hitchcock’s
rule).
In Andrew Stanton’s WALL·E (2008), for instance, we
follow the titular character as he goes about his job, collecting and compacting garbage into building-sized piles hundreds of years after humanity has left Earth. As a hobby, he
also collects an assortment of items he finds interesting, like
spoons, lighters, and toys. One day, he finds a tiny plant (unbeknownst to him an incredibly significant event, since we
later learn its discovery means Earth is habitable again). This
moment of discovery is punctuated by a textbook example of
a close up, carefully composed to underline its importance
to the narrative. This close up lets the audience know this is
an important event, even if they do not learn why until much
later in the story. When used in this manner, the close up can
achieve its full narrative potential.
Although completely computer generated, this close up shot
from Andrew Stanton’s WALL·E (2008) follows virtually every
visual convention associated with this kind of shot, from the
use of shallow depth of field to subject placement according
to the rule of thirds. Can you guess if this is an important
moment in the story?
CLOSE UP
35
close up
why it works
In terms of connecting with the audience, the close up is
one of the most powerful shots used in visual storytelling,
and largely responsible for our love affair with movies. When
used on a human subject, its main purpose is to let the audience see small nuances of behavior and emotion, so the
shot should be composed in a way that excludes or conceals
extraneous visual elements that can potentially be a distraction. Depth of field, focal length, lighting, and composition
should be carefully manipulated to create an effect of inti-
36
mate closeness between audience and subject. This close
up from the ending of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 3 Monkeys (2008),
features Eyup (Yavuz Bingol), a man who agrees to take the
blame for a fatal car accident after his employer, an influential politician, offers him a large sum of money. The complex
psychological state of mind displayed on his face is difficult
to define; is he hopeful? Angry? Regretful? Only a close up is
capable of conveying such complexity of feeling.
Note how little empty room was placed on this side
of the frame when compared to the larger area on
the right side. This shot is following the compositional guidelines to maintain proper viewing room
for a shot this size.
Why is the head cut off by the top of the frame?
Depending on the size of the shot, the amount of
headroom must be adjusted accordingly. In this
close up, showing the top of the head would result
in an uneven, awkward composition. Compare this
headroom with the headroom in the medium shot
and the medium close up chapters.
In a close up, the eyes of your subject are extremely
important; note how the man’s eyes have a tiny yet
bright reflections shining in them. Without this
glint, his eyes would look “dead.” Careful positioning of a light or a reflector to add this eyelight is
necessary if it does not happen naturally.
The subject is looking toward the right side of the
frame; this determines the placement of the looking room area and consequently where the subject
should be placed within the frame according to the
rule of thirds and the aspect ratio of the format being used. Note how the amount of empty space on
the right side of the frame is larger than the one on
the left side, properly positioning the subject closer
to a sweet spot (although not exactly over it).
While the rule of thirds is an excellent guideline for
subject placement in many cases, it is not always
the “right” way of deciding where to place the focal point of a composition. The headroom is slightly cropped here, placing his eyes a bit high in the
frame (according to rule of thirds) that results in a
slightly crowded and uneasy composition. The dot
marks the exact location of the top left sweet spot
for this aspect ratio.
The face of a subject should command the composition of the shot, letting the audience connect to
the performance. Anything that can offer a distraction should be avoided; for this reason, most close
ups of human subjects are shot using either normal lenses or slight telephotos rather than wide
angle lenses that can distort the face.
The background is usually thrown out of focus by
carefully manipulating the depth of field so that it
is shallow rather than deep. This is done to prevent
anything in the background from distracting the
audience from the subject in the foreground.
Another way of manipulating the visual information in the background is to select the appropriate
lens to control the field of view, but keep in mind
that shorter focal lengths can distort the face of
the subject in ways that might be unacceptable to
your story.
CLOSE UP
37
technical considerations
lenses
Using normal or slight telephoto lenses is the norm, but
sometimes wide angles are used when trying to create a distorted view of a character; most often, however, the aim is
to avoid anything that will distract the audience from what
the subject is feeling, thinking, and seeing. Apertures are
normally kept wide to obtain a shallow depth of field, blurring the background in the process. When shooting indoors,
this is usually not difficult to accomplish since lighting can
be easily manipulated (by reducing light output through the
use of scrims, and nets, or by repositioning light fixtures)
to compensate for the extra light a larger aperture lets in.
When shooting outdoors in full daylight, you will need to have
a set of ND filters handy, which can cut the amount of light
entering the lens by several stops, letting you use wider apertures. Note that while you can also manipulate depth of
field by changing the distance between the camera and the
subject, this might not always be an option when shooting
indoors in small spaces; controlling the aperture is often a
more effective method.
format
If shooting film, the choice of stock should ideally reflect
the creative decisions you made regarding the look of your
movie. This means that graininess, color rendition, speed,
and contrast should be taken into account when picking a
particular stock (in addition to budgetary concerns). Keep
in mind that the larger apertures needed to create shallow
depths of field when shooting close ups are easier to accomplish with slower, rather than faster, stocks. A faster stock,
being more sensitive to light, will force you use a smaller
aperture, exactly the opposite you want to do if you need to
have a shallow depth of field. If shooting HD or SD video, it
can be especially difficult to achieve shallow depth of field if
your CCD sensors are on the smaller end (commonly used
38
in most consumer and prosumer cameras). In this case,
you might think about renting or purchasing a 35mm lens
adapter kit for your camera’s native lens (and deal with the
special requirements its use necessitates). While showcasing detail is one of the aims in a close up, capturing too much
detail can sometimes be counterproductive when shooting
with some HD formats. Some prosumer HD cameras have a
setting that lets you control the amount of detail captured by
artificially enhancing sharpness; if this feature is available,
you should make sure you are not seeing too much detail in
your subject’s face, especially when makeup cannot conceal
an actor’s less-than-perfect skin. This is one of the reasons
it is helpful to have a large HD monitor on the set whenever
possible, since the small LCD screens in most cameras cannot preview shots with enough detail to assess the result of
your settings. It is also important to remember that the close
up, regardless of the shooting format, will easily reveal badly
applied or excessive makeup, making it necessary to pay
special attention to the way it looks in these shots.
lighting
The lighting style you choose for your subject in a close up
will depend on the overall visual strategy you have devised;
however, it is a common practice to use an eyelight on the
eyes to avoid a dead gaze (eyes without a glint in them). This
can be easily done by placing a low-wattage light close to the
camera so that it glistens in the eyes of the subject (taking
care the added light does not undo the look you had set up
in wider shots). While overall lighting continuity should be
maintained, in a close up you can adjust lights to create a
more visually compelling look. Adding a backlight to make
the subject stand out in the composition (as seen in the example from Pulp Fiction, on the opposite page) is a typical
adjustment; this manipulation is less noticeable if the shot
you are cutting from (or cutting to) is sufficiently different in
angle and size to conceal the change in lighting.
breaking the rules
If the close up’s main function is to reveal nuances of behavior and emotion in a subject, what do you make of Marsellus’ (Ving
Rhames) introduction in Quentin Tarantino‘s Pulp Fiction (1994)? The director is clearly exploiting and subverting what a close
up is supposed to do, by purposely concealing features that would let audiences read this subject’s behavioral and emotional
cues. Instead, this close up is designed to generate a mysterious and threatening persona around the character of Marsellus,
and the inevitable question: what is it with the band-aid on his neck? Note that the rest of the compositional guidelines for a
close up are followed (shallow depth of field, rule of thirds subject placement, looking room, headroom), and that the shot never
rack-focuses to the famous star sitting in front of Marsellus (which would make this a conventional over the shoulder shot).
CLOSE UP
39
Amélie. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001.
40
M. C. U.
medium close up
Medium close up shots include a character from the shoulders/chest area up to the top of the head; this shot is tighter
than a medium shot, but slightly wider than a close up (as
with all shots that use the human body for reference, the
cutoffs between them are not strictly defined). Like the close
up, the medium close up showcases the face of a subject,
letting audiences see small nuances of behavior and emotion while eliciting a higher degree of identification and empathy; the slightly wider framing also lets body language
convey meaning by the inclusion of a character’s shoulders.
This shot is generally taken with a short camera to subject
distance, resulting in a shallow depth of field that blurs the
background to a degree and effectively isolates the character
in the composition. Like other shots that include a character
and a view of their surrounding area, the medium close up
also lets you add dramatic, symbolic, or expository content
by what is included in the background; however, since only
a relatively small portion of it will be seen, the connection
with a character is more direct than in other shots where the
background can include more visual elements. This shot’s
relatively close camera to subject distance means that even
a small adjustment in the position of the camera can have a
substantial impact on what gets included or excluded from
the background. You could, for instance, tilt the camera
slightly so that the background of the composition includes
a particularly meaningful (to the character or to the audience) prop or color, perhaps as part of the image system
you created for your story. When used in combination with
long shots, medium shots, and close ups, medium close ups
can convey that something especially meaningful or important is taking place at that moment in a scene. For instance,
a conversation between characters could be covered exclu-
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50006-7
sively with long shots or medium shots until someone says
or notices something that is significant to a character; at this
point a medium close up can showcase a character’s reaction, heightening the emotional involvement of the audience
with the character and that moment in the scene.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie (2001), the story of a
young Parisian woman (Audrey Tautou) who one day decides
to anonymously get involved and help those around her, uses
medium close ups throughout the film to underline moments in the story when she decides to help someone or is
affected by a discovery she makes about a character, usually
unbeknownst to everyone but her and the audience. In the
example on the opposite page, Amélie has just learned that
the guy she has a crush on is just as quirky and unusual as
she is (he collects photographs of footprints on wet cement
and works at a carnival’s haunted house). The medium close
up used here lets the audience notice a quick nervous smile
and body language that conveys shyness, revealing how
meaningful this information is to her, and setting up the love
connection that develops later. Note the inclusion of a blue
patch of color at the left of the frame in the background; this
is a recurrent visual motif used throughout the film.
The medium close up, like the close up, has the power to
increase our emotional involvement, because of the way it
centers our attention on every nuance of behavior conveyed
by a character’s facial expressions; its use throughout JeanPierre Jeunet’s Amélie (2001) is one of the reasons audiences were so engaged by its titular character (Audrey Tautou).
MEDIUM CLOSE UP
41
medium close up
why it works
The medium close up showcases the face and shoulders of a
character while including a sizable portion of the surrounding area, letting you create compositions that can suggest
strong connections between them. This medium close up
from Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006),
features Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Whishaw), a man
born with an incredible sense of smell who became a serial
killer, moments before his execution. After releasing a whiff
of a perfume he created, the mob that was clamoring for
his blood only moments before now sees him as an angel
42
sent by God, and is overtaken by his presence. The composition conveys his power over the mob by using a slight high
angle that includes a large number of stricken people in the
background. He is also placed at the center of the frame,
suggesting a strong connection between him and them. The
closeness of the shot also lets the audience see the contempt on Jean-Baptiste’s face, while the inclusion of his
shoulders conveys how relaxed and confident he feels after
confirming his newly found power and dominance.
Although not immediately apparent when looking
only at the subject, the view behind him indicates
this medium close up was shot from a slight high
angle, allowing the ground of the plaza behind him
to be an integral part of the composition. If a close
up had been used instead, this particular subjectbackground relationship could not have been conveyed in the same way. Interestingly, this composition uses a high angle to make a character look
confident and powerful instead of weak, proving
that the context of a shot, and not just its composition, create meaning.
The size of the subject in this medium close up
requires that the top of his head is cropped to
give him the proper amount of headroom. This
rule should be followed regardless of the angle at
which the shot is taken, unless there is a meaningful reason to ignore it (as shown in the medium
shot chapter).
The choice of lens had to account for both the
amount of distortion a wider focal length would add
to the character’s face, and the wide field of view
needed to include as many of the seven hundred
and fifty extras in the background as possible, emphasizing the magnitude of his power in this scene.
The narrative point made by this shot necessitated
a balance between maintaining a shallow depth of
field to let the audience focus on the expression on
the character’s face, while keeping enough visual
detail in the background to make it a meaningful
part of the composition. Shooting outdoors on a
sunny day made it relatively easy for the filmmakers to select an aperture that gave them the depth
of field needed to accomplish this effect.
Subject placement did not follow the rule of thirds;
instead, he occupies the center of a symmetric composition, creating a static focal point that
is suggestive of his power at this moment in the
scene. The central placement in the composition
also creates a strong visual connection between
him and the mob that a few minutes earlier called
for his execution.
Although the background is lit by full sunlight, the
character does not have any hard shadows across
his face, most likely because a butterfly (a large
piece of material that diffuses light) was placed directly above him. This is a very common technique
used whenever tighter shots of characters are shot
outdoors on sunny days.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP
43
technical considerations
lenses
Normal and slight telephoto lenses are commonly used,
since they add little to no optical distortion to the face of a
character. Sometimes you might want to purposely add distortion to a composition, using a wide angle or an extreme
telephoto lens; for instance, if you want to convey that a character is intoxicated, or to exaggerate their movement across
the z or x axes of the frame. Another factor that can determine the use of a particular focal length is the amount of the
surrounding area you want to include in the composition of
the shot, since a medium close up lets you include enough
of the background to make it a meaningful element of the
frame (as seen in the example from Perfume on the previous
page). Shorter focal lengths, with their wider fields of view,
let you include a wider area along the x axis of the frame and
therefore more of the background; conversely, longer focal
lengths produce a much narrower field of view, letting you
exclude much of it. Note that you will not be able to simply
change the focal length without also changing the camera
to subject distance to maintain the size of a character constant; if you had already framed your medium close up with
a normal lens, switching to a telephoto to exclude more of
the background will also force you to move the camera farther away from the subject to keep him or her at the same
size you had before. While this might not be a problem when
you are shooting outdoors and have plenty of room, it might
not be so easy while shooting indoors in a tight location with
little room to spare. You might also want to choose a focal
length to control the apparent distance along the z axis of
the frame between a character and the background, using
wide angle lenses to extend it (seen in the example from Perfume on the previous page) and telephotos to compress it
(as shown in the example from Naked in the medium shot
chapter). Lastly, focal length should not be chosen according
to the depth of field wanted in the composition; if the size of
44
the subject in the frame and the aperture remain constant, a
change in focal length will not affect the depth of field.
format
The main disadvantage of shooting with prosumer HD and
SD video formats is that their smaller CCD sensors make
it difficult to create shallow depths of field, giving you less
control over what the background will look like. Placing the
camera closer to the subject while using a long focal length
and the largest aperture you can have alleviates this situation somewhat, especially if you are shooting with an HD
camera that has a larger sensor and the background is relatively far. Another option is to use a 35mm lens adapter kit
for an HD or SD camera to take advantage of the shallow
depth of field of 35mm SLR lenses, but keep in mind that you
will have to compensate for the loss of light involved in using
a lens adapter.
lighting
When shooting outdoors on a sunny day, it is common to
use a butterfly or other kind of diffuser over the heads of
actors, to change the quality of the light from hard to soft;
this is done to eliminate hard shadows across faces, letting
you have more control over exposure and look. There will of
course be a difference in the quality of the light between the
subject and the background, but this technique is so widely
used that most audiences do not notice the discrepancy. Additionally, diffusion material comes in dozens of gradations
that can let you control how subtle or severe the change
from hard to soft light will be. Shooting indoors with artificial lighting normally involves positioning lights to make your
subject stand out in the composition while separating it from
the background; this is usually accomplished by using backlights and making sure the subject is slightly brighter than
other elements in the frame.
breaking the rules
Medium close ups are generally used in combination with other shot sizes to gradually increase the involvement of the audience
when something particularly meaningful takes place in a scene. This medium close up from Tsai Ming-Liang’s What Time Is
It There? (2001), the story of two young Taiwanese (Lee Kang-sheng and Chen Shiang-chyi, pictured) who share a meaningful
connection after a casual encounter, is instead used by itself, without any other shots or action to provide dramatic context.
The closeness of the shot lets us connect with the character through the emotions shown on her face, but we are also kept at
a distance because we do not know exactly what caused them. This is a common feature of most of Tsai’s work, who chooses
to emphasize the unity of unfragmented space, time, and performance over narrative clarity.
MEDIUM CLOSE UP
45
The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson, 2001.
46
M. S.
medium shot
Medium shots typically show one or more characters from
the waist up, while still including some of the surrounding
area. A medium shot is tighter than a medium long shot, but
wider than a medium close up, although the cutoffs between
these shots are not exact. Like the medium long shot, this
shot lets you showcase the body language of a character,
but the closer perspective also lets the audience see some
facial nuances of behavior and emotion. When they include
more than one individual, medium shots can convey the dynamics of a relationship through character placement in the
composition in addition to their body language. This is one
reason why they are often used for two shots, group shots,
and over the shoulder shots. Since medium shots are wide
enough to include some of the location in the frame, it is
important to be aware that the arrangement of subjects in
the composition can be used to suggest a connection to that
space. Also, because the medium shot can contain a lot of
visual detail, it normally needs to stay longer on the screen
than tighter shots that have less information. Medium shots
are useful as transition shots between wider, more expository shots, and tighter, more intimate shots, allowing you to
gradually increase audience involvement. A common scenario involves using medium shots to cover a conversation
between two or more characters until a key moment occurs;
at this point, a medium close up or a close up is used, adding
dramatic emphasis to the moment. Then, after this beat, the
rest of the conversation returns to medium or wider shots.
The added emphasis provided by the tighter framing of the
close up or medium close up only works because wider, expository shots, like the medium shot, are used to establish
facts of the scene, locale, character, and physical relationships, before a change in the dramatic direction of the scene
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50007-9
is introduced. Of course you could also cut directly from long
shots to close ups, bypassing the use of medium shots altogether; in this case the drastic change in angles would be
read by the audience as a drastic change in dramatic direction, which might be exactly what you want depending on the
needs of your story.
Wes Anderson’s films are known for their elaborate
and imaginative art direction, costume design, and oddball
characters; unsurprisingly, medium shots that showcase
them prominently are used extensively in most of his films.
In this typical medium shot from The Royal Tenenbaums
(2001, on the opposite page), Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth
Paltrow), an adopted member of the titular family, hides
from her husband to smoke a cigarette. The relatively wide
area covered by the shot, coupled with carefully chosen lighting, depth of field, wardrobe, body language, and central
placement of the character in the composition, allows the
audience to make connections between her and the various
items around her (the darkroom paraphernalia, the animal
motifs on the wallpaper, the pink telephone) that convey a lot
of specific information about her character in a single image.
The predominant use of medium shots in Wes Anderson’s
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) showcases characters and locations almost equally, conveying a lot of information about
their personality quirks, hobbies, and careers to the audience.
MEDIUM SHOT
47
medium shot
why it works
The relatively wide field of view of a medium shot is ideal
for establishing visual relationships between characters,
and between characters and their surroundings. In this example from Mike Leigh’s Naked (1993), we see Johnny (David
Thewlis), a well-read but misanthropic homeless man who
lives his life on a self-destructive path, extracting joy out of
ranting at strangers, as he aimlessly wanders the streets of
48
London. The simple composition of this medium shot perfectly encapsulates how Johnny sees himself and the reality
of his situation, placing him slightly above the people who go
about their business with purpose, while he, with nowhere
to go, watches them snidely. This shot is also an example of
an emblematic shot, since it conveys many of the core ideas
explored in this film within a single image.
The pedestrians were placed a few inches lower
than the character at the focal point of the composition, making it easier for the audience to notice
his facial expressions even when they cross the
foreground. Although the medium shot showcases
body language and location, it is still possible to
convey emotions through the face of a character,
especially if the composition makes them easy to
see, as in this case.
The placement of this character follows the rule of
thirds, giving him the proper amount of headroom
for a frame with this aspect ratio. The arrangement
of visual elements in this composition was also designed to isolate him in this area of the frame, by
making sure nothing else around him can distract
the audience from noticing his reactions to the
passing crowd below him.
The pedestrian traffic crossing the frame from both
sides adds multiple layers of depth to the composition, while creating a sense that space extends beyond the edges of the frame. Their movement also
provides a sharp visual contrast against the stillness of the character at the focal point of the composition, making him stand out even more, leading
the audience to focus their attention on him.
The shallow depth of field in the foreground of the
image lets the audience concentrate their attention
on the main subject of the composition; the use of
a telephoto lens coupled with a larger aperture
helped achieve this effect. Using a telephoto lens
also allowed the camera to be placed relatively far
from the subject, making it possible to get this shot
without alerting the passerby.
The compression along the z axis of the frame seen
here suggests the use of a telephoto rather than
a normal or wide angle lens. Since this shot was
taken outdoors, it was possible to place the camera
far from the subject to get this relatively narrow
field of view. Getting the same composition while
shooting indoors with the same lens would probably not have been possible because of the space
needed, forcing the use of a wider lens instead.
MEDIUM SHOT
49
technical considerations
lenses
The size of this shot normally showcases both a character
and the immediate area, so your lens choice should take into
account the kind of spatial relationship you want to establish between them. For instance, you might want to create
a medium shot that makes the location visible behind the
subject look as if it is far away in the background; in this
case, you could use a wide angle lens, since it can make distances along the z axis appear to be longer than they really
are. Conversely, you could achieve the opposite effect, and
make it look as if the background is very close to the subject,
by using a telephoto lens to compress the distance along
the z axis. Of course, you can also control what gets noticed
besides the character (or instead of it) by manipulating the
depth of field, making sure only certain visual elements are
within the range of sharp focus; to do this, you must have
control over the lighting so that you can open up or close
down the aperture of your lens, whether you are shooting
indoors or outdoors. While the field of view of this shot can
be obtained with almost any lens, be it a wide angle, normal,
or telephoto, the size of the location will sometimes force
you to use one lens over another. For instance, if the medium
shot is taken indoors, in an apartment or a bathroom, and
you want to use a telephoto lens for aesthetic reasons, you
might not have enough room to place the camera far enough
to include the subject from the waist up as a medium shot
requires; instead, you will be forced to use a normal or most
likely a wide angle lens, because of the wider field of view it
can capture at close distances.
format
If you want to manipulate depth of field to control what details will be seen in a medium shot, be aware that the smaller CCD sensors of most consumer and prosumer SD and HD
cameras will make it nearly impossible to achieve shallow
50
depth of field, because of the smaller, comparatively wider
angle lenses they use. Since there is a minimum camera to
subject distance you need to have to achieve a medium shot,
you will not be able to get close enough to the subject to manipulate depth of field this way, and in most cases you will
end up having sharp focus from the foreground to deep in the
background. The use of a 35mm lens adapter kit, available
for some HD and SD prosumer cameras, will give you control over the depth of field, but you will have to be prepared
to compensate for the light it cuts, especially when shooting
indoors.
lighting
Since medium shots allow you to include a portion of a location in addition to a character in the frame, lighting can be
used to reveal, conceal, or showcase either one, depending
on the needs of your story. A common strategy when lighting
medium shots (and generally any shots that include characters and locations) is to make the subject stand out by separating it from the background with the use of a backlight, and
by ensuring that it is one of the brighter visual elements in
the frame. Background and foreground visual elements are
normally kept darker than the subject; how much darker will
depend on how much you decide should be visible to the audience, and can vary from less than one f-stop (the smallest
difference in brightness the human eye can perceive) all the
way to complete underexposure. Check out the difference in
brightness between characters and backgrounds in the medium shots from The Royal Tenenbaums on the first page,
and Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
on the opposite page; the slightly brighter Margo Tenenbaum
was lit to stand out from the background, while Jeanne Dielman appears to blend with it, suggesting two very different
kinds of relationship between subject and surrounding area.
breaking the rules
Chantal Akerman’s minimalist masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), examines three
days in the life of Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig), a young widow, as she performs daily house chores that include the turning of
tricks to make ends meet. The film uses static long takes and repetitive medium and long shots, with compositions that seem
to document, rather than dramatize, Jeanne’s domestic routines. In this medium shot, the composition crops her head from
the frame as she greets a client, an unusual formal transgression; this simple compositional choice has profound narrative
implications in the relationships it suggests between the titular character and the home she maintains throughout the film.
MEDIUM SHOT
51
Leon: The Professional. Luc Besson, 1994.
52
M. L. S.
medium long shot
Medium long shots include a character or characters from
approximately the knees up in the frame; they are wider than
medium shots, but tighter than long shots. These shots
are also sometimes known as “American shots,” originally
named by European critics because they were first introduced in early American western films (according to film
history lore, this shot size was created to include characters
and their gun holsters). Medium long shots are commonly
used for group shots, two shots, and emblematic shots,
because they provide enough room in the frame to include
several characters or visual elements simultaneously. While
the long shot emphasizes the body language of a character and the surrounding area, the size of the medium long
shot allows you to showcase body language, some facial expression, and the surrounding area simultaneously, making
them ideal for situations when a relationship between these
three visual elements needs to be established to present a
narrative or expository point to the audience. The size of a
medium long shot is also ideal to establish the dynamics of a
relationship between characters, by the way they are placed
within the composition (by using Hitchcock’s rule, or balanced/unbalanced framings, for instance). Like long shots
and medium shots, medium long shots are commonly used
in combination with tighter shots to control the emotional
involvement of the audience (normally by cutting to medium
close ups or close ups at key moments of a scene), but because they can pick up some facial expression, medium long
shots can also be used by themselves without completely
sacrificing the kind of emotional connection that is associated with tighter shots. The relatively wide coverage of medium
long shots makes it necessary to keep them on the screen
slightly longer than tighter shots with fewer visual elements,
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50008-0
especially when they are used at the beginning of a scene to
set up the spatial relationships between characters or between characters and their surrounding area.
The medium long shot on the opposite page, from
Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional (1994), features a small
exchange between the titular character (Jean Reno), an expert hitman, and Mathilda (Natalie Portman), a 12 year old
he saved from a gang of corrupt cops. In the previous scene,
Mathilda proved her intent to become a killer by blindly
shooting a gun out of his apartment’s window, prompting
Leon to move out. The medium long shot that follows is used
as a reveal: Leon appears first in the frame as he walks toward us, tricking the audience into thinking he has ditched
Mathilda. As the shot continues, Mathilda enters the frame
revealing that he has in fact decided to let her tag along.
The scene plays out entirely in this shot as they have a brief
exchange, relying on the ability of the medium long shot to
show some facial expression and much body language. The
central placement of the characters in the frame, combined
with the exclusion of most of the background and the use of
shallow depth of field, isolates them from their surroundings, underlining the awkwardness of their pairing by letting
the audience concentrate on their dramatically contrasting
costumes and physical appearance.
A medium long shot perfectly showcases the differences in
height, physical appearance, and wardrobe between Mathilda (Natalie Portman) and Leon (Jean Reno) in this exchange
from Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional (1993).
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
53
medium long shot
why it works
The size of a medium long shot is ideal to showcase a character’s body language, some facial expression, and the
surrounding area simultaneously, a characteristic used to
maximum effect in this example from the poignant ending
of Michael Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). The composition of this shot is
designed to let the audience see Winston Smith (John Hurt),
a Party worker at the Ministry of Truth, after he was tortured
and brainwashed for committing a thoughtcrime (keeping a
diary). He is flanked by a poster with the figurehead of the
54
state, Big Brother, and a telescreen that plays his confession
as traitor to the Party. A long shot would not have allowed
us to see the listless expression on his face, while a medium
shot would have excluded either the poster or the confession, both necessary visual elements to communicate the
narrative point of this shot. Note the use of extra headroom
over the character, visually emphasizing his defeat by the totalitarian regime that watches over his every move, symbolized by the gaze of Big Brother behind him.
This poster, showing the penetrating gaze of Big
Brother, was carefully placed within the composition so that it would appear to look down on the
next move by the character at the center of the
frame, symbolizing the constant surveillance of the
state over the activities of its citizens.
This is an excessive amount of headroom for a shot
this size, but within the context of this scene it conveys the character’s defeat and submissiveness
under the gaze of a poster showing Big Brother
behind him.
The inclusion of this telescreen in the background
is essential to the narrative point being made by
this shot. Seeing this character confess to crimes
he did not commit while he sits reactionless in the
foreground confirms that the confessions shown
throughout the film were also untrue, staged by
the state after torturing and brainwashing its citizens.
The camera to subject distance, focal length, and
depth of field were carefully chosen to make sure
all the visual elements necessary to make this shot
work are included in the composition, and sharp
enough to be clearly identified by the audience.
The inclusion of this column in the foreground
adds depth to the frame by implying the existence
of off-screen space; it also provides a depth cue of
relative size when compared to the column in the
background.
Although this chair is only partially protruding into
the frame, it functions as a repoussoir, an object
that adds depth and leads the viewer’s gaze toward
the center of the composition.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
55
technical considerations
lenses
Because the medium long shot can include a character’s
body language and some facial expression along with the
surrounding area, the choice of lens can be especially critical, since it can be used to include or exclude visual elements from the frame according to the field of view needed.
The example from Leon: The Professional at the beginning
of this chapter, for instance, deftly uses a telephoto lens to
exclude a lot of the background, directing the audience to
concentrate solely on the two characters and their exchange
at that time. A very different kind of relationship between
character and surrounding area is established in the example from Nineteen Eighty-Four on the previous page, where
a lens with a focal length much closer to normal was used,
allowing a large portion of the location to be included in the
composition (although not as much as would be included if
a wide angle lens had been used). In this shot, allowing the
audience to see the area surrounding the central character
is essential to establish the multiple visual and thematic relationships contained in this complex moment. Focal length
can also be selected according to the need for either shallow
or deep depth of field in the composition. Actual control over
the range of focus will of course be more a function of the
aperture and not the focal length, but depending on the distance between foreground and background visual elements,
a shallow depth of field will be easier to achieve with a telephoto lens (since it compresses distances along the z axis)
than a wide lens (since it expands distances along the z axis).
format
Any type of shot that depends on the manipulation of depth
of field to establish a visual relationship between characters
or between a character and the surrounding area will benefit from the flexibility of being able to use interchangeable
lenses, possible only when shooting film or HD and SD video
56
with the use of a 35mm lens adapter kit. SD cameras and
their native zoom lenses make it very difficult to create any
composition with a shallow depth of field. Shots that require
deep depth of field, however, will not present a problem when
shooting with an SD video camera, since the smaller native
lenses they use produce inherently deeper depths of field.
lighting
The relatively wide field of view in a medium long shot might
necessitate the use of larger lighting instruments when
shooting indoors, especially if the composition precludes the
placement of lights close to the subject. For instance, in the
example from Nineteen Eighty-Four on the previous page,
a single light source had to be powerful enough to reach all
the way to the back wall. The size of this shot might also
prevent you from placing butterflies over the subjects when
shooting on sunny day exteriors to control the quality of the
light, a very common technique used in medium shots and
medium close ups (as seen in the example from Perfume:
The Story of a Murderer, in the medium close up chapter).
Shooting night exteriors will require powerful lights that will
most likely necessitate using a portable generator, or finding a location that has available light that is bright enough
to achieve a usable exposure. This problem is exacerbated
when shooting SD or HD video since their CCD sensors are
less sensitive to light than fast film stocks.
breaking the rules
Medium long shots are generally used to showcase a character and some of the surrounding area, but in this example from
Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder (2003), a film based on the true story of South Korea’s first serial murders, a character
who fears she is being stalked by a killer is purposely kept out of focus throughout the length of the shot, diverting the audience’s attention to the deserted woods around her instead. This unusual and highly effective technique shifts the focus both
figuratively and literally away from the human subject to the deceptively harmless woods before the character is violently attacked by the serial killer. Note that although the character is completely blurred, she was placed in the composition according
to the rule of thirds, ensuring a dynamic frame and the proper amount of headroom for a medium long shot.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
57
Sid and Nancy. Alex Cox, 1986.
58
L. S.
long shot
The long shot includes characters in their entirety in the
frame, along with a large portion of the surrounding area.
While there can be a main subject in a long shot, the perspective is too remote to see emotional detail on the face.
This shot concentrates on the body and what it reveals. Like
extreme long shots, long shots are commonly used as establishing shots, placed at the beginning of scenes to let the
audience know where the action that follows will take place.
Sometimes, long shots are also placed at the end of a scene,
usually with a composition that conveys a different dramatic
tone from the one established at the beginning of the scene,
marking a change in the emotion or outlook of a character.
Like medium shots, the composition of long shots can be
made to: emphasize a character while neglecting the space
around them, emphasize the space over the character, or to
establish a special connection between a character and the
space around them. The wide field of view of long shots also
makes them ideal for the emblematic shots (shots that convey complex, associative ideas by the arrangement of visual
elements in the frame). The size of this shot also works well
for group shots, providing enough room in the frame to imply
power dynamics between characters. Because the long shot
can contain many details and visual elements, it is normally
kept longer on the screen than other shots that have less
information. This extra duration gives the audience enough
time to register everything there is to see. Used in conjunction with medium shots, medium close ups, and close ups,
long shots are also commonly used to gradually increase the
emotional involvement of the audience, by, for instance, covering a scene with long shots and medium shots until something important takes place, at which point medium close
ups and close ups are used. Alternatively, since long shots
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50009-2
are not ideal to showcase the facial expressions of a character, they can also be used to limit the emotional involvement
of the audience, preventing them from seeing emotional
cues they would normally get with a close up or a medium
close up.
Alex Cox’s biopic Sid and Nancy (1986), a film that
follows the mutually destructive relationship that existed between Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and an
American groupie, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), features
long shots that consistently place them amidst the drugs,
alcohol, violence, and filth that permeated their world. In
the example on the opposite page, a mesmerizing long shot
(also a perfect example of an emblematic shot) that perfectly
captures the alternate nature of their punk rock lifestyle and
romance, they are shown semi-silhouetted in a filthy alley,
kissing lovingly as garbage rains down in slow motion. The
composition places them against a gap between buildings
which makes them stand out in the frame, emphasizing the
contradiction between their actions (a loving kiss) and the
setting. Not surprisingly, this arresting image was also used
in one of the promotional posters for the film.
This visually stunning long shot from Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy (1986) makes a powerful statement about the unorthodox
relationship that existed between punk rocker Sid Vicious
(Gary Oldman) and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Chloe
Webb).
LONG SHOT
59
long shot
why it works
In addition to conveying relationships between characters
and their surrounding area, the long shot can be used to suggest narrative and thematic dynamics between characters,
through their placement and relative scale in the composition. The wide area covered by this shot makes compositional guidelines like Hitchcock’s rule, balanced and unbalanced
frames, and the compression/expansion of space along the z
axis, particularly helpful in establishing these relationships.
60
In this long shot from Lana and Andy Wachowski’s The Matrix
Reloaded (2003), an impending fight between Neo, (Keanu
Reeves) a man prophesied to liberate humanity from the rule
of intelligent machines, and Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), a
program that polices the virtual reality called “The Matrix,”
is suggested by their placement in the composition as a duel
of equally matched opponents, increasing the tension and
dramatic impact of the scene.
Lighting was manipulated so that both characters
have a backlight that separates from the background to make them stand out in the composition.
This is a very common practice designed to guide
the viewer’s gaze toward the most important area
in the frame, usually a character.
The amount of headroom in this composition is correct for a shot this size; increasingly tighter framings should have increasingly smaller amounts of
headroom (as seen in the medium close up and
close up chapters). Alternatively, headroom can
also be purposely exaggerated or removed altogether to make a narrative point about a character.
Characters were not placed in the frame according to the rule of thirds; instead, they were placed
unusually close to the edges of the frame, emphasizing the empty space between them while almost
completely removing the space behind them. This
placement in the composition implies they can only
move toward each other, foreshadowing their imminent fight.
The framing of this shot shows both characters
taking up the same amount of room in the frame,
suggesting that they are evenly matched; this is a
typical implementation of Hitchcock’s rule. Their
placement in the frame also creates a balanced
composition, further emphasizing their equal
power, increasing the tension and suspense of the
scene.
The composition of this shot has only two layers
of depth: the foreground where the characters are
placed, and the background. The lack of a third
layer creates a somewhat flat composition, visually
restricting character movement to the x axis of the
frame, toward each other and conflict. The use of a
closed framing also reinforces their lack of options
by excluding off-screen space.
The background is a couple of f-stops darker than
the characters in the foreground, making them the
focal points of the composition and ensuring that
the audience’s attention will be on them. This is a
very common lighting strategy whether the shot is
indoors or outdoors, day or night.
LONG SHOT
61
technical considerations
lenses
Like all wide field of view shots, the long shot can establish a relationship between a character and the surrounding
area, adding emotional or dramatic content that might be
explicitly addressed in the narrative or implicitly suggested solely through the composition of the shot. Because of
this, the choice of focal length can have a dramatic impact
in the way the audience makes visual connections between
character and location. A wide angle lens, for instance, can
distort perspective to make the surrounding area appear be
to larger and more distant than it is, visually disconnecting
a character from it. Conversely, a telephoto lens can bring
the background behind a character uncomfortably close, establishing a strong visual connection between them. Keep
in mind that if the long shot is taken indoors, you might not
have enough room to use a telephoto lens, because of the
extreme camera to subject distance you need to include the
entire character in the frame. Whichever lens you choose,
remember that the connections the audience will make between character and location will also be greatly influenced
by where you place the character in the composition of
the frame; this placement and the focal length you choose
should complement, and not work against, each other.
format
The longer camera to subject distances needed to include a
character in his entirety in the frame exacerbate the problems inherent in achieving a shallow depth of field with the
smaller lenses of most consumer and prosumer SD and HD
cameras. It will be virtually impossible to get a soft background while shooting with these formats at these distances,
even with a wide open aperture. One option is to get a 35mm
lens adapter kit, which can let you use regular 35mm SLR
lenses in front of the native lens of your camera. Unfortunately, compensating for the light the adapter will cut can
62
be more difficult with this type of shot, since you will have to
light a much larger area than in tighter shots. Film formats
have the inherent advantage of making it easier to achieve
shallower depths of field because of their larger lenses, although for the same reasons it is more difficult to achieve
deeper depths of field in 35mm than in the 16mm film format.
lighting
Another way to control the visual relationships between characters and location in a long shot is to restrict the amount
of detail that can be seen in the background by controlling
the depth of field; this is best accomplished through the aperture of your lens, which can be manipulated if you have
control over the lighting and the sensitivity of your shooting
format. One strategy is to reduce the distance between camera and subject as much as possible while still including the
subject’s entire body (otherwise it would not be considered
a long shot) coupled with a large aperture and a telephoto
lens. If shooting outdoors in sunlight, you will have to use
ND filtration to block enough light to use a large aperture.
If you are shooting indoors with artificial light and want a
deep depth of field, be prepared to have a lot of lights so that
you can use the smaller apertures to achieve it. Note the
shallow depth of field in the example from Sid and Nancy,
where the subjects are closer to the camera while still in a
long shot, versus the deep depth of field in the example from
Michael Haneke’s Hidden (2005) on the opposite page, where
the subjects are farther away from the camera. Lighting is
also especially important to make the subject stand out in
the composition so that the audience’s gaze is directed toward it. The convention is to light subjects so that they are
brighter than the surrounding area, although sometimes the
same effect can be achieved by silhouetting them instead,
making sure the surrounding area is brighter, as seen in the
Sid and Nancy example.
breaking the rules
The distance necessary to include characters in their entirety makes the long shot less than ideal to showcase nuances of
behavior and emotion through facial expressions, which sometimes can be exploited to add suspense and tension to a scene.
Michael Haneke’s appropriately titled Hidden (2005), follows the story of Georges (Daniel Auteuil), a TV personality who suddenly gets stalked and harassed by someone he assumes is tied to a transgression he committed as a child. In this long shot,
the final image from the film, we see his son Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky) chatting with the son of the man who might have
been behind the harassment (Walid Afkir). The cluttered mise en scène makes it hard to notice them at first, and later difficult
to see the exact nature of their relationship, preventing the audience from unraveling the mystery and getting narrative closure,
a recurrent technique used throughout this film.
LONG SHOT
63
Last Year at Marienbad. Alain Resnais, 1961.
64
E. L. S.
extreme long shot
The extreme long shot lets you create compositions that emphasize the scale of a location. When human subjects are
included in the frame, they usually occupy a very small area,
and are dwarfed by their surroundings. Sometimes extreme
long shots do not have a character in the frame; in this case
they showcase the location itself, and are referred to as establishing shots. It is common to use establishing shots at
the beginning of a scene, to let the audience know where the
action that follows will take place. Another common practice is to use extreme long shots to suddenly reveal the vastness or character of a location, usually after the use of a
close up where a subject reacts to something they can see
but the audience cannot, heightening tension and suspense
(a favorite Spielbergian device). Extreme long shots are also
ideal to showcase spatial relationships and interactions between large groups of people, for instance during large battle scenes. While the perspective of shots from medium to
extreme close up restrict the amount of visual information
to a single subject, or even just an aspect of a single subject,
the extreme long shot lets you establish visual relationships
between several characters and characters and their environment. Compositional guidelines like the rule of thirds,
balanced/unbalanced compositions, and Hitchcock’s rule
are especially useful in the arrangement of visual elements
in the frame. The wide field of view of these shots also provides enough room to contain several visual elements in the
frame, making them ideal to create emblematic shots. The
depth of field in these shots is usually deep, a function of
the long camera to subject distances necessary to include a
location and its surroundings. It is also important to remember that the amount of visual information a shot of this size
can contain will normally take more time for the audience
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50010-9
to fully register, making it necessary to keep the shot on the
screen longer than other shots that contain less information.
When characters are included in the frame, the composition
of the extreme long shot is usually designed to let the audience compare the difference in scale between them and a
location, so it is important that they are arranged within the
composition in a way that will make them easily noticed.
Alain Resnais’ enigmatic Last Year at Marienbad
(1961), has a famous extreme long shot that deftly exploits
the guidelines of composition to create a memorable image,
as seen on the opposite page. This shot, one of many fascinating and baffling visual puzzles in the film, has a symmetric composition that underlines the geometric patterns of an
opulent garden, disturbed only by a number of characters
standing motionless (like the statues around them) on a path
at its center. Strangely, they cast long shadows on an overcast day (at an angle that breaks the order established by the
rest of the visual elements in the frame), adding a surrealistic touch to the oneiric tone of the film. Only an extreme long
shot could have simultaneously included all visual elements
(garden, people, and sky) necessary to convey the narrative
point of this shot.
This extreme long shot from Alain Resnais’ Last Year at
Marienbad (1961) has puzzled audiences for decades. The
symmetrical framing of the garden, possibly hinting at the
inexorability of destiny, is disturbed by visitors who are
strangely capable of casting shadows on an overcast day.
EXTREME LONG SHOT
65
extreme long shot
why it works
The extreme long shot is ideal to display a vast field of view
that emphasizes the scale of a location. If a subject is included in the frame, it occupies a very small area and is usually placed in a way that will let the audience easily notice
the contrast in sizes. Extreme long shots can also be used
as establishing shots, inserted at the beginning of a scene
to introduce the audience to a location where the rest of the
action will take place. This extreme long shot from Francis
Lawrence’s I am Legend (2007) shows Robert Neville (Will
66
Smith) going about a normal day as the last survivor of a
plague that killed every human in New York City in 2009. The
wide field of view of this shot dramatically reveals an impossibly deserted Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (made empty with
the aid of CGI), and is one of several extreme long shots designed to convey the broad and total devastation caused by
the plague and the loneliness and isolation felt by Dr. Neville
as the last human survivor left in the city.
The wide angle lens used to shoot this composition
added some distortion to the image, evidenced by
the warping sides of the buildings that are closer
to the edges of the frame and the convergence
of architectural lines towards the horizon. It also
exaggerated the distances along the z axis, in this
case to showcase the complete absence of traffic
and people along the avenue.
The horizon line was framed so that it rests on the
bottom third of the frame, its more conventional
location according to the rule of thirds. This area
of the frame is also the main focal point; note how
the architectural lines of the buildings naturally
lead the eye toward it, further emphasizing the vast
stretch of emptiness along the normally crowded
avenue.
Note that while the character was placed off-center, he is moving towards one of the sweet spots
created by the division of the frame into thirds; the
entrance to the museum, his destination in this
shot, is directly over the lower left sweet spot.
The character is easily noticeable even in this extreme long shot because of the especially bright
steps, a result of the angle at which sunlight is illuminating them. If the character were going up the
darker side stairs or was walking across the shadowed street, we would not notice him as easily.
The inclusion of this lamp post in the foreground
provides both a visual cue of relative size that accentuates the z axis (when compared to the receding lamp posts in the background), and implies the
existence of off-screen space beyond the borders
of the frame.
Although he occupies a very small area in the
frame, the dark clothing worn by the character
makes him stand out against the light-colored
steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; he is
also the only element in this composition that
moves across the frame, making it very easy for
audiences to notice him even in this detail-heavy
composition.
EXTREME LONG SHOT
67
technical considerations
lenses
Extreme long shots benefit from the use of wide angle lenses, which provide wider fields of view and exaggerate the
depth of the frame along the z axis, emphasizing the scale of
subjects placed along it. It is also possible to use telephoto
lenses for certain compositions when compression along
the z axis is desired, but these lenses restrict the field of
view and are therefore less capable to showcase the broader
x axis vistas usually associated with extreme long shots. Apertures will normally be small, since most of the time these
shots will be taken outdoors in daylight. Night exteriors, unless shot with available light, or as day for night or dusk for
night, will be very expensive to light. While ND filtration can
allow you to use wider apertures, these shots normally involve very long camera to subject distances, which result in
deep depths of field (there are, however, special tilt-shift
lenses that allow you to selectively shift the focus to either
side of the frame over a single plane, creating the illusion of
shallow depth of field if needed). The smaller format lenses
found in most consumer and prosumer SD and HD cameras
have an inherent advantage in this respect, making it relatively simple to compose very wide shots because of the
shorter focal lengths of their native lenses.
format
Depending on the amount of visual information included in
the frame, formats capable of higher resolutions (like film
and higher end HD cameras) will do a better job with extreme long shots that have many small details, like an extreme long shot of a crowded city street with lots of vehicles
and pedestrians. Lower resolution formats (like SD video
and lower-tier HD) will be unable to render minute detail
because of their inherent lower resolution, and because of
the compression algorithms their formats use to record the
footage. Sometimes filmmakers mix formats because of the
68
resolution requirements of a particular shot; Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, for instance, used both the Super 16
(for close ups of actors) and the Super 35 mm (for extreme
long shots of the favelas) film formats in their acclaimed film
City of God (2002).
lighting
Unless you have access to very powerful lights and the cranes
needed to hoist them high in the air, you will most likely not
be shooting extreme long shots outdoors at night. In rare
circumstances, you might be able to use available light that
happens to be strong enough to expose an image using film
stock or digital video; for instance, by shooting under the
bright lights used in some outdoor parking lots. There are
options for shooting what appear to be night exterior shots,
however, by shooting day for night or dusk for night, but they
can severely restrict your framing by preventing you from including the sky in the shot (which would look too bright for a
night shot and immediately give away the trick). Otherwise,
most extreme long shots are shot outdoors using daylight,
making the use of artificial lighting very rare. This does not
mean that you will have no control over the lighting, however; careful planning (by monitoring weather forecasts, and
using software that lets you predict the length and position
of shadows at any time of the year anywhere) and location
scouting can let you decide how the shot will be lit to convey
something meaningful about the location. An example of this
can be seen in Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern (1991,
in the emblematic shot chapter), where thoughtful scheduling allowed the shot to be taken at magic hour, taking full
advantage of the unique quality of daylight during this time,
thus adding beauty and poignancy to that moment in the
scene.
breaking the rules
In this extreme long shot from Im Kwon-taek’s Seopyeonje (1993), Dong-Ho (Kim Kyu-chul) takes a last look at his sister Songhwa (Oh Jung-hae) before running away from the cruel man who raised them after their parents died, an itinerant singer of
Pansori (a traditional Korean style of music akin to American Blues). Instead of underlining this dramatic moment in the story
with close ups of the brother and sister, Im uses extreme long shots to emphasize the vast space already in place between
them, foreshadowing a separation that will last years. Note that while most of the guidelines for extreme long shots were observed, the horizon was purposely placed high in the frame, against the rule of thirds. While the composition lacks the harmony
and balance the rule would offer, it intelligently exploits the resulting disharmony and unbalance it creates to emphasize the
abruptness and anguish felt by the characters because of their separation.
EXTREME LONG SHOT
69
The Graduate. Mike Nichols, 1967.
70
O. T. S.
over the shoulder shot
These shots are widely used whenever an exchange between
two or more characters takes place, or when a character is
looking at something. The name refers to the placement of
the camera directly behind the shoulder of one of the characters, partially obstructing the frame, while the principal
character faces the lens (other body parts, like hips and
shoulders can also be used). The inclusion of the character
with his back to the camera creates depth in the frame by
adding a foreground layer to the main character and background planes. The O.T.S. shot, also known as a dirty single,
is normally accomplished using medium shots, medium
close ups, or close ups (although wider shots can be used).
In cases of a dialogue exchange, the composition is designed
to make the character facing the camera the focal point. Like
the close up, this shot usually has a shallow depth of field,
due to the very short camera to subject distance used to
frame it. In most cases, the O.T.S. shot is edited in a matched
pair, with a corresponding O.T.S. shot framed from a reverse
angle. Composition, focal length, and depth of field are also
usually matched, and the camera is almost always placed
according to the 180° rule.
The arrangement of visual elements in this shot
lends itself to many variations that can effectively convey
meaningful narrative points to the audience. The amount of
space taken up by the character with his back to the camera,
for instance, can make a strong statement about the power
dynamics in a scene, as seen in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate
(1967), where Mrs. Robinson’s shoulder takes up so much
room that it visually constricts an already uncomfortablelooking Ben while she tries to seduce him (also a perfect
example of Hitchcock’s rule in action). The reverse shot
does not match the composition of this example, and has
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50011-0
a more conventional O.T.S. shot framing that firmly establishes Mrs. Robinson’s dominance and Ben’s vulnerability in
this scene. The O.T.S. shot can also be used to manipulate
the level of identification an audience has with a character,
by controlling the angle at which the camera records him or
her; the more it matches the point of view of the character
in the foreground, the greater the audience’s emotional connection and identification with the main character will be. In
our example from The Graduate, the camera was positioned
so that when Ben discovers a naked Mrs. Robinson in front
of him, he is almost looking directly into the camera. This
angle provides one of the highest levels of audience identification possible, letting them fully sympathize with his plight
and making his reaction feel more uncomfortable than if it
was shown in a profile shot, for instance. Sometimes, these
key moments in the story are also emphasized by purposely
not matching the composition of an O.T.S. shot and using
a single for a reverse instead (without the inclusion of the
character with his back to the camera). Although the O.T.S.
shot is ubiquitous, it should not be thought of as just a generic or utilitarian convention; like all shots, it has the ability
to make powerful narrative statements if used thoughtfully
and consistently.
In this over the shoulder shot from Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967), the composition effectively conveys how uncomfortable and overwhelmed Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) feels
when he is seduced by a naked Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his father’s business partner.
OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT
71
over the shoulder shot
why it works
O.T.S. shots can be very effective to set up the power dynamics between two or more characters. The O.T.S. shot used in
this first meeting between Red (Morgan Freeman) and Andy
(Tim Robbins) in Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption (1994) firmly establishes the foundation of their emerging friendship. The reverse shot matches this O.T.S. shot in
terms of general composition, angle, focal length, and depth
of field. Note how the camera was placed at an angle that is
72
close enough to Red’s line of sight so that the audience
can identify with him (and with Andy in the reverse shot)
but not too close, since this is their first encounter. The
use of a medium close up (instead of a medium shot) also
reinforces the idea that a special connection is being developed between these two characters, as does the use
of shallow depth of field that effectively separates their
exchange from the activity in the background.
This character’s placement within the frame follows the rule of thirds, giving him proper looking
room and headroom for the size of this shot. He
is also framed within the frame by the inclusion of
the shoulder of the character in the foreground,
leading the audience’s gaze toward him and making him the focal point of this composition. The
angle at which the camera was placed is close to
the eyeline of the character facing the camera,
prompting the audience to identify with him.
This character was also placed over a sweet spot
according to the rule of thirds. Note how the top of
his head is cropped, since he is larger in the frame
than the main character. Depth of field was controlled so that he is not as soft as the background,
making him a part of the action even though he is
not the focal point of this composition.
Over the shoulder shots usually include only a
small portion of the subject in the foreground. This
character, however, is almost completely in the
frame, making him an integral part of the composition and underlining the physical proximity (and
psychological closeness) that exists with the main
subject of the shot.
Over the shoulder shots almost always have at
least three layers of depth: foreground, middle
ground, and background. The inclusion of this
character in the foreground adds depth to the
frame by providing an overlapping object cue along
the z axis of the frame.
The shallow depth of field blurs the background,
letting the audience concentrate on the facial expressions of the main character. The short camera
to subject distance normally used in this type of
shot might not be enough to achieve this shallow
depth of field on a sunny day, so having ND filtration handy to use wider apertures is always a good
idea.
Shooting with available light is no excuse for flat,
boring lighting. In this shot, sunlight comes from
behind the main character, creating a nice “rim
lighting” effect. The reverse O.T.S. shot (right),
taken by placing the camera according to the 180˚
rule, matches everything...including the sunlight
coming from behind the main character, an impossibility unless the shots were taken at completely
different times of the day or their position was
cheated. Very few (if any) members of the audience
will ever notice lighting manipulations of this kind
as long as the shot is visually pleasing and the context of the scene dramatically compelling.
OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT
73
technical considerations
lenses
O.T.S. shots can be taken with wide angle, normal, and telephoto lenses, depending on the size of the shot, the desired
camera to subject distance, and the apparent distance you
want to create between the main and the foreground subjects. In its more conventional form, this shot is taken with a
normal lens, with the camera placed right behind one of the
subjects, resulting in a very short camera to subject distance
and shallow depth of field both in the foreground and the
background, leaving the main subject in sharp focus. Alternatively, focal length can be chosen to exaggerate the z axis
distance between subjects (by using a wide angle lens) or
to bring them closer together (by using a telephoto). Under
special circumstances, you might want both the subject in
the foreground and the main subject to be in focus simultaneously, something that might not be possible if shooting
indoors with artificial light. In these cases, a split field diopter can be used (an attachment that effectively turns a lens
into a bifocal) allowing you to focus on two planes simultaneously. Another specialized lens that can achieve this effect is
the tilt-shift lens, which maintains focus across a diagonal,
closer to the z axis instead of a plane across the x axis; however, its use demands a very careful staging of the action and
severely restricts any movement within the shot.
format
Consumer and prosumer video cameras will make it very
difficult to get the shallow depth of field this shot normally
requires, because their tiny CCD sensors use comparatively
smaller, wider lenses than their larger format equivalent
(like the 2/3” CCD chips found in more expensive HD cameras, 16mm and 35mm film formats). For this reason, SD
and HD cameras should be placed as close as possible to
the main subject, to minimize the camera to subject distance
and get the shallowest depth of field possible. Using a wide
74
aperture to get a shallow depth of field will be easy when
shooting indoors, but shooting outdoors on a sunny day
makes it a must to have ND filtration handy, or to engage the
camera’s ND switch if shooting SD or HD video. Another option would be to outfit your video camera with a 35mm lens
adapter kit, which lets you attach conventional SLR (single
lens reflex) 35mm still camera lenses in front of your native
lens. Since these lenses were designed for the larger 35mm
format, they are comparatively longer in focal length than
your native lens, and give you the same depth of field as if you
were shooting with a 35mm film camera. If shooting film, it is
preferable to choose slower stocks when shooting day exteriors, since they are less sensitive to light and require larger
apertures, which, combined with ND filtration, will make it
easier to achieve a shallow depth of field.
lighting
While changing the focal length of your lens can help you
manipulate the depth of field, it will impact the composition
of your shot. The more effective way to control depth of field
is by manipulating the aperture, since this will allow you
to keep your composition intact. However, this means that
you must have control over the amount of light that reaches
your CCD sensor if shooting with SD, HD, or your film stock.
The shallow depth of field normally associated with O.T.S.
shots is not difficult to achieve when shooting indoors with
movie lights, since under these circumstances it is easy to
use larger apertures (and you will probably have a very short
camera to subject distance to help you anyway). But, shooting outdoors presents the problem of having to use smaller
apertures because of the intensity of the sun, making the
use of ND filtration an absolute must.
breaking the rules
The visual design of Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah (2008) includes a recurrent motif where many over the shoulder shots do not
have matched reverse shots, and the focus is on the foreground, keeping the character facing the camera purposely out of focus. This deconstruction of the conventional composition and usage of the O.T.S. shot effectively adds a sense of instability and
foreboding to the shady underground deals made in the film by and because of the Neapolitan-based mafia, the Camorra. In
the shot above, Pasquale (left, played by Salvatore Cantalupo), an haute couture tailor, makes a deal to train Chinese garment
workers who are competing against firms under Camorra protection, putting his life in extreme danger in the process.
OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT
75
The Shining. Stanley Kubrick, 1980.
76
E. S.
establishing shot
The establishing shot is usually an exterior, long shot or extreme long shot that showcases a location where the action
that follows will take place. Although these shots usually
precede and contextualize scenes of action and/or dialogue,
sometimes they are placed at the conclusion of a scene
(that might be in an interior or exterior setting), providing
a revealing or unexpected context. This simple combination
of shots (exterior establishing shot followed by a dramatic
scene) is a powerful cinematic convention that has been exploited by filmmakers since the early stages of film history.
In the minds of the audience, a scene that immediately follows an establishing shot takes place in that location, regardless of where it is actually filmed. In most cases, scenes
following establishing shots are shot at an alternate space
that is more advantageous logistically and economically for
the production. Establishing shots can also function as reveals, usually by following a character who arrives at a destination the audience cannot see until this wider perspective
lets them see the broader location. The composition of an
establishing shot must convey something about the location
that communicates a particular tone, or relationship to a
character, or thematic association according to the vision of
the filmmaker. For this reason, not every location needs to be
established; a story might have locations that are essential
to the plot only because some minor action happens to take
place in them, but they do not function to reveal exposition
about a character or contextualize narrative content, and
establishing them would unnecessarily interrupt the narrative flow. When shooting wide establishing shots outdoors in
sunlight, a common mistake is to think you have little to no
control over the lighting and composition to convey mood;
this is not the case. Lighting can still be controlled by waiting
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50012-2
for just the right time of the day to shoot, and composition,
while more difficult to manipulate because of the size of the
shot, can also be made to fit your needs by taking the time
to find the right vantage point from where to shoot. A useful
strategy is to develop a visual relationship between the location being established and the surrounding area included
in the shot; through the careful arrangement of visual elements in the frame, a location can be made to look imposing
and dominant, or innocuous and nondescript, depending on
the needs of the story.
A good example of this technique is shown in a series of establishing shots of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley
Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). As the story progresses, the
establishing shots slowly transform the deserted hotel from
a postcard-worthy idyllic location to a desolate and uninviting place, as if slowly succumbing to the same supernatural
forces that eventually drive Jack (Jack Nicholson) to want to
kill his family. Regardless of where it is situated or what kind
of location you need to establish, there are always ways to
control the composition of a shot to communicate a particular impression about it; an essential step is to do extensive
location scouting on different days and at different times of
the day, so that, through scheduling, you can have as much
control as possible over the look of the place you want to
establish.
Stanley Kubrick uses a series of establishing shots of the
Overlook Hotel throughout The Shining (1980) that visually
foreshadow Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) gradual isolation from his family and eventual descent into insanity and
murder.
ESTABLISHING SHOT 77
establishing shot
why it works
Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men (2006) shows what happens to the world in 2027 after a virus renders all of humanity sterile. In this establishing shot, Theo (Clive Owen) arrives
at the “Ark of the Arts” building, where his influential cousin
Nigel (Danny Huston) works as a curator. In the dystopian
future this film depicts, this building represents one of the
few remnants of law and order that have managed to survive
the chaos and anarchy that dominate the world. Accordingly,
78
the composition of this shot is designed to convey its importance (by the central framing of the building in the shot), how
secure it is (by including the checkpoint and armed guards
in the foreground), and how cold and inhospitable it looks (by
framing the building in a way that accentuates its angular,
industrial features). This establishing shot successfully conveys a sense of danger and tension, two underlying recurrent
features of the future shown in this film.
Horizon lines are usually placed according to the
rule of thirds (either at the top or bottom third of
the frame), but in this composition the horizon was
placed closer to the middle of the frame, complementing the central placement of the building, and
emphasizing the symmetry of the composition.
The location of this building in the frame does not
follow the rule of thirds, which would require it to
be placed over a sweet spot. Instead, it is centered
in the frame, underlining its importance and authority as one of the remaining bastions of law and
order in the otherwise chaotic world presented in
this film.
The building was shot from a vantage point that
accentuates the angularity of its architecture,
making it look cold and uninviting. This composition also complements the symmetric layout of the
visual elements in the frame, conveying the structure’s importance and authority.
The converging lines of this bridge emphasize the z
axis of the frame and lead the viewer’s gaze toward
their vanishing point at the center of the composition, the imposing building in the background.
The inclusion of this traffic light partially protruding into the frame acts as a repoussoir, a technique designed to push the viewer’s gaze toward
the center of the composition. It also adds depth to
the frame by implying the existence of off-screen
space.
The soldiers standing along the bridge function as
relative size depth cues, letting the viewer judge
the long distance that exists between the car and
the entrance of the building by comparing the size
of the soldiers in the foreground to those in the far
background.
ESTABLISHING SHOT
79
technical considerations
lenses
The focal length you choose will depend on the visual features of the location you are trying to emphasize, distort, or
conceal, so any type of lens might be used. You might, for
instance, choose a wide angle lens to shoot a building from
a low camera angle to exaggerate its height, making it look
imposing; the same building could be shot with a telephoto lens at an angle that includes other buildings next to it,
making it look unassuming and nondescript. If the location
being established reoccurs throughout the film, you might
even decide to shoot it using different focal lengths and
compositions as the story progresses, to reflect changes in
tone, mood, or the impact it has in the unfolding narrative
and how it should be seen by the audience. Depth of field
will be difficult to manipulate in day exteriors, since you will
likely have to shoot with very small apertures from a relatively long distance (since most of the time these shots will
be long or extreme long shots), even with the use of ND filtration. The only way to achieve shallow depth of field under
these circumstances would be to use a tilt-shift lens, which
would allow you to selectively focus on only a narrow area of
your frame. Unfortunately these lenses are not available or
compatible with certain formats, particularly lower-end HD
cameras.
format
Establishing shots can contain a lot of minute visual detail in
the frame. If these details are essential to the narrative, you
might opt to shoot with the slowest film stock possible to reduce the amount of grain and increase the overall sharpness
of the image. This is especially important if you are planning
to blow up from S16mm to 35mm for theatrical distribution.
A common practice among filmmakers, even when shooting
on 35mm film stock, is to purposely overexpose the image
slightly (usually by a 1/3 of an f-stop) to then pull process
80
during the printing stage; this practice further reduces the
appearance of grain while creating darker blacks. If shooting HD and a lot of minute visual detail is important, and if
the camera supports multiple shooting modes, it would be
preferable to shoot establishing shots with the highest possible resolution (1080i or 1080p rather than 720p) while also
adjusting the sharpness settings to a minimum to avoid any
artifacts that might degrade the quality of the image.
lighting
While it is more difficult to control lighting when shooting
outdoors, it is not impossible; for instance, by consulting
weather reports, you can decide to shoot on a particular day
to get a certain effect. You can also use a clinometer, a device
that allows you to predict the sun’s position in a specific area
at a given time of the year, to shoot at a time of the day when
sunlight will come from a specific direction that will reveal or
conceal a particular texture of your location. Shooting establishing shots at night will depend on the use of available light
unless the budget is there to have large lighting instruments
and the cranes/platforms needed to support them. Alternatively, the shooting of dusk for night with the time limitations
it conveys is a possibility as well, especially for locations
that contain light sources like illuminated windows, street
lamps, and car headlights. Getting the right look to establish
a specific mood will take time and patience, but it is always
better to achieve the desired effect in camera, with as little
manipulation as possible in postproduction. As you can see,
shooting establishing shots can quickly become a complex
affair, but they can be incredibly important to your story, so
you should apply the same attention to detail you would use
when shooting the main characters in your film. Remember,
an establishing shot will conveys more than just the location
where the action takes place, so make them count.
breaking the rules
Director Lars Von Trier cleverly exploits the narrative implications of using this establishing shot to open Dogville (2003). The
shot, like the rest of the movie, simultaneously adheres to and subverts the conventions associated with it; it establishes an
actual, physical location (a stage with various pieces of furniture, characters, and chalk outlines) and an implied, metaphysical
one (the small township of Dogville, near the Rocky Mountains) that is not present in the shot and needs to be imagined by the
audience to follow the story. This rare filmic example of Brecht’s “distancing effect” is meant to prevent audiences from getting
emotionally involved with the story, making them more consciously critical of the events in the narrative instead.
ESTABLISHING SHOT 81
The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme, 1991.
82
subjective shot
subjective shot
The subjective shot is unique in its ability to let audiences
experience the action as if seen directly through the eyes
of a character. The evolution of cinematic language developed a number of conventions designed to allow audiences
to identify with the emotional and/or psychological state of
mind of a character (through the use of P.O.V. shots, dream
and fantasy sequences, and reaction shots, for instance), but
none of them operates by allowing the audience to become
a surrogate for a character, watching events unfold as if
through their eyes, and making them an intrinsic part of the
story for the length of a shot. Subjective shots accomplish
this through compositions, staging of the action, and image
manipulation designed to mimic the subjective point of view
of a given character. The composition of a subjective shot can
be carefully manipulated to match both the physical attributes of the character’s perspective, and their emotional and
psychological subjectivity. One of the most striking features
of the subjective shot is the way it lets the other characters
interact directly with the audience, by looking into the lens,
speaking to, and sometimes even having physical contact
with it. This interaction can be extremely powerful but also
potentially very jarring to audiences, who are accustomed
to experience the action from the safety of a third person
perspective, as invisible and unacknowledged observers. If
subjective shots are used for extended periods of time, there
is a danger that audiences will find it difficult to identify
with the character whose subjectivity they are experiencing,
gradually disconnecting with the story. This disconnection is
caused by the lack of reaction shots which ordinarily reveal
the emotional response of a character. Without the ability to
look a character in the eye, audiences are left uncertain as
to how they should feel and react to the events they experi-
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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ence, leading to ambiguities that fail to produce a sense of
narrative clarity. The subjective shot should therefore only
be used under very special circumstances and even then
only for short periods of time, particularly when placing the
audience in the shoes of a character will amplify the dramatic impact of a scene, or when letting them see the action
through the eyes of a character provides them with a unique
insight that would not be possible to experience with any
other type of shot. The composition and look of the subjective
shot will depend on the visual metaphor being used to show
a given psychological or physical subjectivity; for instance,
what would the subjectivity be of a character who suffered a
stroke? What would the world look like through their eyes?
Jonathan Demme uses subjective shots in this way
in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), at important moments in
the narrative when Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) has meaningful exchanges with Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
and other key characters. In the example on the left, Lecter
is shown unbearably close to her (and the audience), even
though it was established he is in fact several feet away in
previous shots from the same scene; the subjective shot visualizes just how imposing and menacing he comes across
when he incisively forces Clarice to reveal an important
childhood memory.
Several key scenes in Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the
Lambs (1991) have characters addressing Clarice Starling
(Jodie Foster) by looking directly into the lens. This use of
subjective shots allows the audience to feel what it is like
to stand face to face with the menacing Dr. Hannibal Lecter
(Anthony Hopkins).
SUBJECTIVE SHOT 83
subjective shot
why it works
The subjective shot is unique in its ability to let the audience
experience action through the perspective of a character. In
this type of shot, characters interact with the camera as if it
were an individual, looking at, speaking to, and even touching it. The composition of this shot should reflect the angle
of view from which the individual would see the action. Focal
length, camera movement, composition, and other kinds of
image manipulation can also be used to visualize the specific
physical, emotional, and psychological attributes belonging
to the specific subjectivity of a character. Julian Schnabel’s
84
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) uses subjective shots
throughout most of the film to make the audience experience what life was like for Jean-Do (Mathieu Almaric) after
suffering a massive stroke at age 42. The relatively few reaction shots used are complemented with a voice over from
his still intact consciousness, letting audiences sympathize
with his plight. Shot compositions were designed to simulate
the subjectivity of the stroke victim, as seen in this example
when his wife Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner) visits him.
In a subjective shot, characters interact with the
camera as if it were just another character, looking directly into the lens, speaking to it, and even
touching it. This kind of interaction is seldom used,
but can be an extremely effective way to let audiences experience the story as if they were an integral part of it.
Although the subject leans into a static frame from
off-screen, she is still given the proper amount of
headroom for a shot this size. There are, however,
many instances in this film where subjects are not
framed according to compositional guidelines, but
this is consistent with the character’s subjectivity
being replicated, whose paralysis prevented the
use of any character-motivated camera movement.
The horizon has been purposely framed askew,
simulating the subjective view of the character,
whose head was left drooping after his stroke. The
canted angle also suggests the chaotic new reality
he faces every day because of his injury. Manipulating the image to reflect the physical, emotional,
and psychological state of mind of a character is
a common strategy when using a subjective shot.
The very shallow depth of field is also meant to
recreate the subject’s impaired vision after losing
sight in one eye due to the stroke he suffered. The
film uses several techniques to distort the image
to various degrees, reflecting the different stages
of his recovery.
The slight distortion on her face and the converging perspective seen in the background indicate
the use of a lens with a shorter than normal focal
length, another stylistic choice designed to visualize the character’s subjectivity after his stroke.
Lighting was manipulated to create a visually
pleasing effect, as evidenced by the fill light providing a soft glow to this side of her face. Close ups
like this one allow you to reposition or even add
lights that were not present in wider shots, as long
as the general look is maintained.
SUBJECTIVE SHOT
85
technical considerations
lenses
While a normal lens would seem like the obvious choice for
a shot that simulates a character’s visual perspective, this
is not always the case. Other factors should be considered,
like whether the shot will include camera movement (a common subjective shot technique), and what kind of camera
movement will be used. For instance, if you want to conceal
camera shake, wide angle lenses would be preferable; if the
movement will be accomplished with the use of a tracking,
dolly, or Steadicam rig, longer focal lengths could also be
used. Lenses could also be selected to communicate a specific visual metaphor that might convey the physical, emotional, and/or psychological characteristics of the subjectivity being shown. You could use a tilt-shift lens to simulate the
subjectivity of a character with poor eyesight, or a telephoto
lens that narrows the field of view to indicate that a character is fixated with a particular object or subject. While some
conventions are more established than others (like using a
“fish eye” lens to show that someone is under the influence
of drugs, or a double exposure to show a character is drunk),
remember that every film creates its own visual vocabulary
to some extent, so feel free to come up with your own visual
metaphor.
format
Subjective shots often include camera movement. Usually,
a handheld camera will be used, to differentiate it from the
steadiness of a dolly shot and to more closely simulate the
movement of a real person (although many films also use
tracking and Steadicam rigs for subjective shots). If this is
the case, smaller, lighter cameras would be preferable, possibly even mixing formats (for instance, if the shooting format is 35mm, one could shoot the subjective shot sequences
in Super 16mm with a slow stock for a 35mm blow up, or
even shoot on HD to then upscale the footage to 2K and later
86
transfer to 35mm). The complexity of the camera movement
and the requirements of the visual strategy devised to simulate the subjectivity will ultimately dictate the kind of hardware necessary to create the shot; no film exemplifies this
better than Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2002), a film
shot with an HD camera on a Steadicam rig for its 91-minute
single-take subjective sequence shot which travels through
the Hermitage museum and 300 years of Russian history (included in the sequence shot chapter).
lighting
If the subjective shot includes camera movement, the placement of lights will have to take this into account; the moving camera creates a dynamic frame that can restrict where
lights can be placed without being seen, and in many cases
you might not be able to use any conventional movie lights,
particularly when shooting night interiors. In these cases, a
good strategy is to use practicals (sources of light that are
visible within the shot and are part of the art direction for a
given location, like table lamps), relamped with higher-wattage bulbs that are commonly connected to dimmer boards to
control their output, providing you with enough exposure to
shoot. A drawback when using this lighting strategy is that,
depending on how much is seen within the shot, you might
end up needing quite a few practicals. When shooting day interiors, one option is to light the location using larger fixtures
strategically positioned outside windows to provide motivated lighting, freeing the camera to move almost anywhere;
you can save yourself a lot of trouble and extra expense by
choosing a location that is on the ground level, so that you
will not have to rent cranes or extendable platforms to raise
lights to a second or third story set of windows. Night exteriors are usually handled by shooting dusk for night, choosing
a location that happens to have a lot of available light, or the
more expensive route, by using large lighting instruments on
platforms or hung from cranes.
breaking the rules
Spike Jonze’s wonderfully surreal Being John Malkovich (1999) uses vignetted subjective shots to visualize what it would be like
to experience life through the consciousness (and not simply the perspective) of John H. Malkovich (John G. Malkovich) after a
hidden portal to his mind is discovered behind a file cabinet. In this shot, a bewildered Malkovich is seduced by Maxine (Catherine Keener) while Lotte (Cameron Diaz) experiences the action from inside the portal. This particular use of the subjective
shot is unique because it lets the audience experience the action through not one, but two subjectivities simultaneously, since
we hear Lotte’s voice over at the same time we hear Malkovich’s voice. The physical interaction between the characters was
achieved through the use of an ingenious camera rig worn by the director of photography.
SUBJECTIVE SHOT 87
Mystery Train. Jim Jarmusch, 1989.
88
two shot
two shot
As its name implies, the two shot includes two characters in
the same composition. Two shots are usually accomplished
using medium long, medium, and medium close ups, although any shot that features two characters can also technically be called a two shot. An extremely common use of
the two shot is as a master shot for covering a conversation
between two characters, either by itself or in coordination
with other shots of various sizes, designed to shape the dramatic arc of the exchange. The blocking of the characters in
a two shot can make a vivid narrative point about the dynamics of their relationship; this is true of any shot that includes
multiple characters, like group shots, but it is particularly
important for two shots, because having only two characters
in a composition instantly suggests there is a connection between them and elicits the audience to compare and contrast them. For instance, you could use Hitchcock’s rule to
let one character occupy more space within the composition,
suggesting he or she has more power, control, or assertiveness than the other. Alternatively, if the two shot uses a medium or a long shot, the body language of your characters
could also be used to suggest a particular dynamic between
them. One important aspect to be aware of when using only
a two shot to cover a conversation is that the audience will
“edit” the scene themselves, by shifting their attention from
one character to the other depending on which one is talking
or any other aspect of their performance. While this might
seem like a trivial distinction, it can have a serious impact
in the way your audience engages with the story. When you
use a combination of increasingly tighter shots to suggest
something meaningful is taking place, the audience can afford to be passive, since the context of the scene is being
revealed to them by the progression of the shots through ed-
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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iting. When the composition stays constant and no editing is
used, the audience has to become active, constantly searching for clues to decode the dramatic intent of the scene (what
André Bazin, a seminal film theorist, called the “mise-enscène aesthetic”).
Jim Jarmusch uses this strategy in the “Far From
Yokohama” segment of his film Mystery Train (1989). The
story follows a teenage Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase
and Youki Kudoh) as they visit historical blues and rock & roll
landmarks in Memphis, Tennessee. Almost every shot in this
segment is a two shot, suggesting both the deep connection
that exists between them (even though they spend a large
amount of their time arguing) and the shared isolation they
experience as outsiders in a strange land. Because of the
predominant use of two shots to tell their story, the exact nature of their relationship is revealed gradually, through their
actions and performance, rather than by the strategic use of
point of view shots and close ups.
The “Far From Yokohama” segment in Jim Jarmusch’s
Mystery Train (1989) uses mostly two shots, suggesting the
strong connection that exists between Jun (Masatoshi Nagase) and Mitsuko (Youki Kudoh), as they make a musical
pilgrimage to Memphis, Tennessee.
TWO SHOT
89
two shot
why it works
Two shots, like other shots that include multiple characters,
let you establish the dynamics of a relationship, through body
language, blocking, and the composition of the shot. However, because two shots only include two characters, their use
tends to automatically imply that some type of narrative connection exists between them as well. This two shot from Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise (1991), the story of two women
who become wanted fugitives after one of them shoots and
kills a would-be rapist, is used to establish the new relationship they have forged as a result of their journey together.
90
By the time this two shot is used, Louise (Susan Sarandon,
left), a waitress with a damaged past who mistrusts men,
and Thelma (Geena Davis, right), a mousy housewife with
a controlling husband, have turned into hard core “bitches
from hell” (to quote one character in the film) as they right
the wrongs of the patriarchal system. Every aspect of the
composition of this shot, from their body language to their
placement within the frame, is designed to convey how alike
their plight has made them.
A very slight low angle was used (evidenced by the
fact that we can see the underside of this tin roof),
emphasizing their new assertiveness and self determination at this moment in the scene. Note that
it was not necessary to use an extreme low angle
to achieve this effect. The subtlety of the angle allows the effect to be a complement to the rest of
the compositional choices used in this shot instead
of its main point.
Although characters were placed at a slight angle,
they are both roughly over sweet spots created by
the rule of thirds, creating a dynamic composition that gives them the proper amount of looking
room. This dot marks the exact location of the top
left sweet spot for the aspect ratio of this frame.
Shooting with available light will restrict your
lighting options, but you can still create visually
compelling images through the careful blocking
of your subjects. In this two shot, the characters
were positioned so that sun is behind them, creating a typical back light that separates them from
the background.
The size of this two shot lets the body language of
the characters convey narrative information about
them and the dynamics of their relationship. Their
nearly identical stances and facial expressions are
suggestive of their like-mindedness at this stage
of their journey, a far cry from the very different
personality traits they displayed at the beginning
of the story.
The deep depth of field used in this two shot makes
the location an integral part of the composition
and elicits audiences to establish a relationship
between it and the characters. The desert location
shown here is particularly important to the narrative (the first image of the film is a shot of a desert
highway), because it is where a big portion of the
action takes place, and because of its symbolism
(emptiness, vastness, solitude, toughness, and the
western genre, among others).
Thelma is slightly larger in the frame than Louise, following Hitchcock’s rule; at this point in the
story she has undergone a more radical change in
personality than her partner, going from goofy and
passive to assertive and daring (a change also suggested by her costume). She is also the focal point
of this composition, resting at the end of a diagonal
line that begins with Louise at the left of the frame.
Characters were placed in the frame at a slight
angle, emphasizing the z axis and providing a depth
cue. Their blocking also suggests that space extends beyond the boundaries of the frame, by the
use of an open framing that implies the existence
of off-screen space.
TWO SHOT
91
technical considerations
lenses
Since two shots can come in a variety of sizes (anywhere from
a medium close up to an extreme long shot), your choice
of focal length will be determined by the specific needs of
your story. Depending on the kind of relationship you want
the audience to infer between the subjects, you can use a
telephoto lens that makes it look as if the space between
them along the z axis is shorter than in real life, or a wide
angle lens to suggest they are farther apart. If the two shot
includes a sizable portion of their surrounding area, you can
also choose a focal length to affect the spatial relationships
between subjects and a location. Look at the different ways
characters and their environment are portrayed in the example from Mystery Train (at the beginning of this chapter)
where only a small portion of the background is included in
the frame, and the one from Thelma & Louise (on the previous page) where a large area surrounding them is visible in
the shot. In these examples, the focal length and camera
to subject distance were selected to manipulate the field
of view in the composition of the shot, placing the dramatic
emphasis selectively on the characters, or on both characters and location, as their narratives required.
format
The two main disadvantages of shooting with SD and HD
prosumer formats instead of film (the low sensitivity of their
CCD sensors and their general inability to produce shallow depth of field), are especially limiting in shots that have
multiple visual elements, like two shots. While it would be
possible to shoot the exact composition and depth of field
seen in the Thelma & Louise example with almost any digital
camera, only a prosumer HD camera equipped with a 35mm
lens adapter kit or a professional HD camera could replicate the framing and depth of field seen in the example from
Mystery Train. But do not let this discourage you from incor92
porating the limitations of a format into the visual strategy
of your film; instead, learn to exploit them and use them to
your advantage.
lighting
At the very least, a two shot will include two characters and
some portion of the surrounding area in the background.
Commonly, characters are lit so that they stand out in the
composition by making sure they are slightly brighter than
anything else in the frame; with two shots, controlling how
much brighter than the background they are can be used as
a narrative device. If the background is kept much darker
than the characters, it will be difficult to convey a relationship
between the subjects and the background (as shown in the
example from Mystery Train). Alternatively, the background
can be lit so that it is perceived as being just as or even more
important than the characters, underlining the relationships
that might exist between them (in the example from Thelma
& Louise, for instance, the background is as bright as they
are, while the two shot from Paris, Texas on the opposite
page features a background that is brighter than both characters). Lighting can also be used to control what elements
in the frame are in and out of focus, through the manipulation of depth of field. You could ensure that the background
of a two shot falls outside the area of sharp focus by using a wide aperture that produces a shallow depth of field,
or ensure that it is seen clearly by using a small aperture
that gives you a deep depth of field. But you cannot simply
open or close the aperture without affecting the exposure
of your image, so having control over the lighting becomes
crucial, especially when shooting indoors (where having the
extra lights necessary to use a small aperture might not be
an option). Day exteriors will present you with the opposite
problem; you might have too much light and need to use ND
filtration if you want to use a large aperture to have shallow
depth of field.
breaking the rules
This imaginative two shot (technically also an over the shoulder shot) from Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (1984), brilliantly visualizes a key moment in the story, as Travis (Harry Dean Stanton), a man who deserted his family and became a drifter, reveals
himself to his wife Jane (Nastassja Kinsky) at the peep show club where she works. The composition uses a one-way mirror to
create a two shot that merges both characters and captures the dynamics of their relationship; Travis sees his reflection superimposed over an idealized version of the home and wife he left behind and wants to regain, but the optical illusion that lets
him see his goal realized also reveals how illusory it remains, and he ultimately decides that his family is still better off without
him. Because this two shot conveys so many aspects of the story by itself, it is also a great example of an emblematic shot.
TWO SHOT
93
City of God. Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund, 2002.
94
group shot
group shot
Group shots include three or more characters in the frame
(with less than three characters you would have a two shot
or a single); because of this, group shots are usually medium shots, medium long shots, or long shots, since these
shot sizes are wide enough to contain multiple characters.
Like other shots that include individuals and a sizable portion of their surrounding area, group shots can convey information about the dynamics of a relationship between
characters or between characters and their immediate
environment. For instance, the arrangement of characters
in a group shot could be made to suggest disharmony and
conflict between them by placing them so that no two characters face the same direction, or have the same size in the
composition, or share the same space along the x axis. Relationships between characters and a location can be suggested by manipulating the amount of space they occupy
in the frame (using Hitchcock’s rule) to emphasize one or
the other, or by using other compositional rules (like balanced/unbalanced framings, and the rule of thirds). Group
shots are commonly used expositorily, at the beginning of
scenes that feature dialogue between several characters, to
establish their placement in a location so that tighter shots
can be used later without confusing audiences about where
everyone is situated. Since group shots have multiple subjects, their arrangement in a composition can also be used
to emphasize the depth of a frame, by placing them along the
z axis (providing a strong visual depth cue because of their
diminishing relative size). Alternatively, placing subjects
along the x axis of the frame can create a composition that is
flat rather than deep. Group shots can also present you with
opportunities to create compositions that are emblematic
of a special moment in the story of your film, because the
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50015-8
wider fields of view these shots normally require allow you
to include multiple visual elements in a single frame. All of
the examples included in this chapter, for instance, are both
group shots and emblematic shots.
A brilliant use of a group shot occurs in Fernando
Meirelles and Kátia Lund’s City of God (2002), a film that follows the lives of two children of the favelas as they grow up;
Li’l Zé (Leandro Firmino) becomes a powerful drug lord who
rules over the titular favela in Rio de Janeiro, while Buscapé
(Alexandre Rodrigues) strives to reach his dream of becoming a photojournalist. At a key moment in the story, Li’l Zé
asks Buscapé to take a photograph of his gang after a minor victory over the police. The resulting group shot shows
them standing guard over their territory, defiantly displaying
their weapons as they strike a pose designed to instill fear in
their enemies. The deceptively simple yet effective composition of the shot is reminiscent of a sports team photograph,
with everyone lined up along the x axis of the frame (right by
a shaft of light that conveniently separates them from the
background). Their common body language and blocking
effectively convey their unity of purpose, while their central
placement and size in the frame make a powerful statement
about the dynamics of their relationship with their surrounding area, the poverty-stricken favela they control.
This iconic group shot from Fernando Meirelles and Kátia
Lund’s City of God (2002) perfectly visualizes the unity of purpose in Li’l Zé’s (Leandro Firmino) gang and the power they
wield over their favela, the ironically named “City of God.”
GROUP SHOT
95
group shot
why it works
In addition to conveying narrative content about the relationships between characters and between characters and their
surrounding area, the group shot’s common use of framings
with wider fields of view makes it ideal to create emblematic compositions, visualizing an important concept and/or a
recurring theme at key moments in the story. In this group
shot from Johnny To’s Exiled (2006), a tension-filled gangster
drama that follows two sets of hitmen from rival gangs as
96
they thwart each other’s plans, the placement of characters
in the frame is designed to create suspense while establishing the spatial relationships between them in preparation
for the dramatic shoot out that follows. Every compositional
choice in this shot visualizes the conflict that exists between
the characters: foreground vs. background, large vs. small,
lit vs. silhouetted, and concealed vs. exposed, among others.
The wide field of view needed to include all the
characters in the frame was accomplished through
the use of a wide angle lens, evidenced by the visible warping of vertical lines toward the edges of
the frame. The use of this lens also exaggerates
distances along the z axis of the frame, adding
depth to the composition.
This subject (an underground doctor being visited by both teams of hitmen to take care of their
wounded) is the focal point of the composition; he
occupies the brightest area in the background of
the frame, and the body language of the rest of the
characters leads the audience’s attention toward
him.
This subject, partially cropped by the edge of the
frame, acts as a repoussoir (an object designed to
lead the viewer’s gaze to the focal point of a composition) that also implies the existence of space
beyond the boundaries of the frame. He also provides a visual cue that adds depth to the frame by
letting the audience compare his relative size with
the characters in the middle ground and the background of the composition.
The silhouetting of these characters makes them
stand out against the bright background. Within
the lighting scheme used in this shot, the silhouetting also sets them up as visual opposites of the
characters in the foreground, emphasizing the
conflict that exists between them.
The wide framing of this group shot lets some subjects be shown in their entirety, allowing body language to add dramatic content to the scene. Note
the added tension and suspense provided by the
postures of the three subjects in the foreground,
poised as if ready to engage in a gun battle at a
moment’s notice.
The use of pools of light surrounded by areas of
complete darkness, highlighting every layer in the
composition, adds contrast and depth to the frame.
The low-key lighting also makes the location look
foreboding and isolates each character, making it
plausible for many individuals to remain hidden in
a confined space like the one shown.
GROUP SHOT
97
technical considerations
lenses
Since group shots can convey relationships between characters and between characters and their surrounding area,
choosing a focal length that supports the kind of relationship you want to imply to your audience is critical. For instance, you can use a wide angle lens to exaggerate the
distances along the z axis of the frame, also increasing the
apparent distance between characters if they are placed at
different planes in the composition (as in the example from
Johnnie To’s Exiled on the previous page). Alternatively, you
could use a telephoto lens to compress distances along the
z axis instead, creating the appearance that characters are
closer than they really are, or to imply a special connection
between a character in the foreground and a meaningful detail in the background of the frame (as seen in the example
from Mike Leigh’s Naked, in the medium shot chapter). If
the group shot is taken in a real-life indoor location and not
a movie set, be aware that the lack of space and removable
walls will very likely narrow your options as to what focal
length you can use, depending on the size of the shot you
want (this is especially true if you want to have a long shot,
medium long shot, or a medium shot).
format
Shooting with SD or HD formats will restrict your options to
manipulate the surrounding area in group shots that have
wide fields of view. Since the native lenses in these formats
have generally short focal lengths, creating a composition
that isolates the subjects from the background with the use
of shallow depth of field will be much more difficult (a good
example of this technique is shown in Cox’s Sid and Nancy, in
the long shot chapter). Tighter framings that bring the camera closer to the subjects are an option, but only when shooting with video formats that have larger CCD sensors, like
those found in some prosumer and high-end HD cameras.
98
The use of 35mm lens adapter kits available for some prosumer HD formats can give you much more flexibility, provided you are equipped with a good selection of 35mm lenses. The frame sizes of 16mm and Super 16mm film formats,
while larger than most video SD and HD CCD sensors, will
still make it difficult to achieve shallow depth of field unless
shorter camera to subject distances are used. The 35mm
format is your only option if the group shot is a long shot that
needs to have both a wide framing and shallow depth of field.
lighting
When group shots are taken indoors and cover a wide area,
lighting can be used to support spatial relationships between characters or between characters and a location as
suggested by the composition of the frame. The group shot
on the previous page, from Johnnie To’s Exiled, is a perfect example of this; if the location had been flooded with
light, leaving no corner of the room unlit, the tension and
suspense of the scene would have been greatly diminished.
Instead, the use of low-key lighting, with small pools of light
surrounded by shadows, creates an atmosphere filled with
dread and danger, complementing the dynamics between
the characters established by the composition of the frame.
Keep in mind, however, that the wider the shot, the more difficult it will be to find places to hide the lights from the camera (note that the lights in the foreground of the group shot
from Exiled were placed directly above the characters). One
way to overcome this problem is to use practicals to light the
scene (a technique also used when a shot involves extensive
camera movement). When shooting night exteriors, you will
have less control over the lighting, unless you can get large
lighting fixtures (and a portable generator to power them). If
shooting day exteriors, you can also schedule your production to use available light in an expressive way, although this
requires extensive location scouting and thorough research
on your part.
breaking the rules
Because of the number of subjects they often include, group shots are commonly long shots or medium shots, making it difficult to showcase facial expressions to convey dramatic content; however, this group shot of civil servants from Terry Gilliam’s
Brazil (1985), a film about a dystopian future where bureaucrats control every aspect of society, uses an uncharacteristic medium close up that does just that. The imposing, low-angle composition has characters placed so that they fill every available
space in the bottom half of the frame, blocked in such a way to convey the oppressiveness and inflexibility of the Department of
Information Retrieval, a branch of the government in charge of, among other things, the torture of suspected terrorists.
GROUP SHOT
99
Apocalypto. Mel Gibson, 2006.
100
canted shot
canted shot
Canted shots are composed with a camera tilted laterally, so
that the horizon is not level and vertical lines run diagonally
across the frame. The resulting compositions can create
spatial imbalance or disorientation which can convey a sense
of dramatic tension, psychological instability, confusion,
madness, or drug-induced psychosis. Canted shots were
originally introduced to the grammar of film in the 1930s, in
German expressionistic films that used them to externalize
the inner turmoil or deranged state of a character’s psyche.
The shot was also known as a “Deutsch angle” (“Deutsch” is
the word for “German” in German) shot, which over time was
confused and changed into today’s “dutch angle” shot, even
though its historic roots have no connection with the cinema
of the Netherlands. Although canted shots are commonly
used to represent a character’s altered or abnormal state
of mind, they can also be used to represent the collective
psychology of a group, usually when they are experiencing a
stressful or unusual situation. Another common use of the
canted shot is to convey that an unnatural or abnormal situation is taking place, without necessarily reflecting a character’s psychology. The degree to which the frame is canted
is normally interpreted as reflecting the level of abnormality, disorientation, or uneasiness being conveyed. Extremely
canted shots, with the camera tilted close to 45 degrees, are
very jarring to audiences and are therefore reserved for extreme situations; conversely, tilting the camera only a few
degrees can introduce a sense of underlying instability to a
scene without being too distracting. Because canted shots
can be very overt and noticeable to audiences, it is common
to restrict their use to only a few or even just a single shot
within a scene. However, if the canted angle is not too great,
sometimes entire scenes are shot using them. Like all other
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50016-X
compositional manipulations, the effect of the canted shot is
lost if used too often. Two rare examples of an extensive use
of canted shots include Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949),
and Hal Hartley’s Fay Grim (2006).
An example of a canted shot used to convey a collective altered state of mind can be seen in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto (2006). Set during the decline of the Mayan civilization,
it follows the story of a Mesoamerican tribesman, Jaguar
Paw (Rudy Youngblood), after he is abducted and taken to a
large Mayan city. As he is being prepared for ritual sacrifice,
a Solar eclipse takes place; the Mayan population, believing
the eclipse to be an evil omen, break into a panic and beg a
high priest (who obviously understands the true nature of the
celestial phenomenon) to bring the sun back. At this point
Gibson uses a canted shot of a group of Mayan citizens to
convey their collective hysteria, visualizing their belief that
the natural order of the world has suddenly gone out of balance, a mindset reflected by the high degree of inclination
used in the composition of this shot.
A canted shot is used to convey the collective hysteria of the
Mayan population as they experience a Solar eclipse in Mel
Gibson’s Apocalypto (2006).
CANTED SHOT 101
canted shot
why it works
In addition to conveying a character’s altered state of mind,
canted shots can also amplify the tension of a dramatic moment, especially when something unsettling or abnormal is
taking place in a scene, as seen in this example from John
McTiernan’s Die Hard (1988). After a group of mercenaries
takes over a high rise building, New York cop John McClane
(Bruce Willis) manages to systematically thwart their plans
to steal millions from a vault. In this key scene, McClane
102
stumbles upon Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), the mastermind behind the mercenaries, who pretends to be one of
the hostages to gain his trust. The entire scene is shot using
slightly canted angles, adding tension to their exchange and
signaling that something unsettling is taking place. As the
scene continues, it is revealed that McClane suspected Gruber’s true identity all along, and only pretended to trust him
to pump him for information.
The lighting from below used on this character
gives him a sinister, menacing look that is amplified by the inclusion of the large looming shadow
behind him.
The excessive amount of headroom given to this
character is motivated by the need to include the
distorted shadow of his head on the wall behind
him (itself canted against the angle of the canted
shot), a visual cue that hints at his duplicitous nature.
Including this character in the foreground adds
depth and leads the viewer’s gaze to the character
in the middle ground, the focal point of the composition in this over the shoulder shot.
The relatively wide framing (somewhere between a
medium shot and a medium close up) allowed the
inclusion of several vertical lines from the mise en
scène, making the slight inclination of this canted
shot very apparent.
Using a wide angle lens extends distances along
the z axis of the frame (note the apparent wide
space between the two characters even though
they are only at arm’s length of each other), and
also adds some distortion to the frame that complements the awkwardness suggested by the skew
of the angle.
The camera to subject distance and large aperture
combination resulted in a slightly shallow depth of
field, keeping only the main subject in the middle
ground, the focal point of this composition, in sharp
focus.
CANTED SHOT
103
technical considerations
lenses
The effect of a canted shot can be augmented or minimized
depending on the focal length used. Since canted shots are
made apparent by the inclination of vertical lines present in
the frame, it is important to create compositions that include
them prominently; this is especially important if the canted
angle is very slight and the framing is tight enough to exclude
most of the surrounding area. This is where your choice of
focal length can make a difference. Depending on the details
of your scene, using a wide angle lens that extends distances along the z axis can make verticals in the background of
your frame less apparent than if you were using a telephoto
lens that would bring them closer to the foreground (since a
telephoto compresses distances along the z axis). However,
manipulating the focal length alone is not enough if other
aspects of your composition, including depth of field, lighting, and art direction, are not also taken into account. For
instance, in the example from Gibson’s Apocalypto at the
beginning of this chapter, a telephoto lens was used to compress space along the z axis of the frame, not to make the
canted shot more apparent (since it already uses a very inclined angle), but to compress the Mayan citizens into a unified mass, visually conveying their shared collective mindset
as they witness a Solar eclipse. On the other hand, the wide
angle lens used in the example from McTiernan’s Die Hard,
on the previous page, added optical distortion to the composition; combined with lighting and blocking choices, the
added distortion emphasizes the unsettling tone suggested
by the use of the only slightly canted shot.
equipment
Most tripods will let you loosen their head mounts, allowing
you to tilt the camera to create a slightly canted shot without
the need to adjust the legs. If a more canted angle is desired,
you can extend one of the tripod legs longer than the other
104
two, or even attach the base plate that holds the camera to
the tripod sideways, so that its tilting action will slant the
camera laterally. Regardless of the method you choose to
create a canted shot, keep in mind that any adjustment that
renders the camera unbalanced requires extra measures to
prevent the tripod from tipping over.
lighting
Any manipulation of the depth of field will involve controlling
the amount of light reaching the film or CCD sensor. In the
example from Apocalypto, a telephoto lens was combined
with a relatively small aperture to ensure that as many individuals as possible included in the canted shot were in focus,
even though the eclipse effect (a combination of a live effect with digital tweaking during postproduction) reduced the
amount of available light; this was accomplished thanks to
the high sensitivity of the Panavision Genesis (a high end HD
camera) used to shoot this movie. A smaller aperture could
also have been used in the example from Die Hard, without sacrificing the low-key lighting used to add an ominous
mood to the scene, simply by increasing the output of the
lights used on the set. While a smaller aperture would have
produced a sharp background that would have made the verticals in that area of the frame more apparent, it would have
also potentially taken attention away from the main subject
of the composition, breaking one of the rules for over the
shoulder shots.
breaking the rules
Since canted shots already suggest an altered or uneasy situation, it is unusual to see them combined with disorienting camera moves. However, a key moment in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (2002) is underlined by the use of a canted shot that is
imaginatively complemented with a dynamic camera attached to a revolving door, conveying Truman Burbank’s (Jim Carrey)
unsettling realization that things are not what they seem in his idyllic hometown.
CANTED SHOT 105
Being There. Hal Ashby, 1979.
106
emblematic shot
emblematic shot
Emblematic shots have the power to communicate abstract,
complex, and associative ideas with compositions that reveal
special connections between visual elements in the frame.
Emblematic shots can “tell a story” with a single image,
conveying ideas that are generally greater than the sum of
their parts. Audiences watching Luke Skywalker looking at
the twin suns of Tatooine in George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977),
get more out of that shot than the literal content of the image (young man watches suns setting). Instead, the audience
is encouraged to identify larger meanings from the connections and associations contained in the visual elements,
specifically by their placement in the composition and the
symbolism associated with certain images. These connections transform the concrete meaning “young man watches
suns setting” into the symbolic “he feels his future is out of
reach” in the minds of the audience. There are many different approaches to create these shots, but the first step is
to have a clear understanding of the themes, subtexts, and
core ideas in your story; once these are identified, you can
design compositions that support them visually. You could,
for instance, use Hitchcock’s rule to create a composition
that emphasizes a particular visual element over another,
or use any of the compositional principles (like balanced/
unbalanced framings, the rule of thirds, etc.) to establish a
specific relationship between visual elements in the minds
of the audience. Emblematic shots are usually placed at the
beginning or at the end of particularly meaningful scenes
or sequences. When used at the beginning of a scene, they
tend to set up the tone of what follows. When they appear at
the end of a scene or sequence, they tend to comment on,
or contextualize, the events that led to the emblematic shot.
Another common practice is to reuse or recreate an em© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50017-1
blematic shot toward the end of a film, alerting the audience
that a story has come full circle and that the ending is near
(a popular technique in image systems). When creating an
emblematic shot, think about the meaning being implied by
the arrangement of subjects in the shot. Is your composition
supporting what is taking place in the scene/sequence/film?
Challenging it? Foreshadowing an event that will take place
later? Commenting on issues that are not directly related
to the plot but are ultimately what your film is really about?
Can you take your emblematic shot out of the film, show it to
someone who doesn’t know the story, and have him or her
recognize what your film is about?
Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979) uses an emblematic shot early in the film, right after its protagonist, an idiot
savant named Chance (Peter Sellers), finds himself homeless in Washington, D.C. after the death of his employer. The
composition of the shot cleverly suggests Chance’s eventual
ascendancy to the presidency of the United States (symbolically represented by the Capitol building and the green traffic
light giving him the “go ahead”), while the isolated path he
walks on is suggestive of his unique look at life. This simple,
yet effective emblematic shot introduces and foreshadows
themes that are explored throughout the film.
In Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979), Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers) finds himself homeless and roaming the streets
after his benefactor suddenly dies; the inspired composition
of this early shot in the film cleverly foreshadows his ultimate
destination: the Presidency of the United States of America.
EMBLEMATIC SHOT 107
emblematic shot
why it works
Emblematic shots are not easy to conceive, but they can be
very effective at communicating complex, non-verbal, or associative information. In these shots, the director’s take on
the themes explored in the film are visualized, through the
thoughtful arrangement of visual elements within the frame.
A common approach to the composition of these shots is
to use Hitchcock’s rule, organizing the visual elements in a
way that lets audiences create meaningful connections to
the story. In this emblematic shot from Zhang Yimou’s Raise
the Red Lantern (1991), Songliang (Gong Li), a girl married
108
against her will to a rich man who already has several wives,
has a chance encounter with one of her stepsons, Feipu
(Chu Xiao). Although they meet only briefly, this is the first
time she has a meaningful emotional connection with a man
since her arranged marriage, because traditional “house
rules” severely restrict her every move. Appropriately, their
last gaze of each other is visually obstructed by a section of
her husband’s house, framed to present a formidable obstacle between them, both physical and symbolic.
This character was purposely placed against an
empty background, making her quite noticeable
even though she occupies very little room in the
frame and the composition is visually dense.
Following Hithcock’s rule, the structure between
the characters dominates the composition of the
shot, both because of its size and its centralized
placement in the frame. Note that by cropping the
top of the structure, a visual cue is created that
suggests it cannot be fully contained within the
boundaries of the frame, further emphasizing its
size and importance.
This character is dwarfed by the lavish surroundings of the opulent house (of which this is only the
rooftop!), underlining his lower status within the
family. Note that although small in the frame, he
is made to effectively stand out by silhouetting him
against the bright background, a good idea given
the visual complexity of this shot.
Note how everything in the frame, from the foreground to the background, is in sharp focus. Using
a deep depth of field lets the audience notice the
spatial and size relationships between the characters and their surroundings; a shallow depth of
field would not have allowed this visual statement.
This small adornment, partially protruding into the
composition, adds depth by implying the existence
of off-screen space. This technique is designed to
overcome the inherent flatness of the frame.
The horizon was placed close to the top third of
the frame according to the rule of thirds, providing more room to crowd the rest of the frame with
the various structures that comprise the elaborate
roof of this house (following Hitchcock’s rule). The
extra room taken by the house also creates a sense
of uneasiness, since it visually dwarfs the characters while effectively separating them.
These structures in the foreground and middle
ground add depth to the composition by emphasizing the z axis of the frame. They also lead the
viewer’s gaze to the silhouetted character in the
background.
EMBLEMATIC SHOT
109
technical considerations
lenses
Since the emblematic shot relies on viewers making connections between visual elements in the frame, the use of
smaller apertures to obtain deep depth of fields (to ensure
everything is in focus) is common. While using smaller apertures is not difficult when shooting outdoors on a sunny
day (where you will have more light than you need), you will
have to have plenty of lights when shooting indoors. If you’re
shooting film, there are ways to make it easier to achieve a
deep depth of field indoors, by choosing the right film stock
(see below). Another technique to get a deep depth of field is
to choose a lens with a short focal length, which will produce
the appearance of one, but you will have to take into account
the distortion it creates and the radical change in the field
of view your composition will have. Another option would be
to use a specialized lens like a split field diopter, which lets
you have both background and foreground subjects in focus
simultaneously, with the caveat you will also have an area of
blurriness in the middle of the composition (where the join
between the two lenses is located). You could also use a tiltshift lens, which allows you to have a plane of focus along a
diagonal toward the z axis, but this will require the careful
arrangement of visual elements only along this axis, severely
restricting your compositional choices.
format
The smaller apertures needed to get a deep depth of field
let less light through, necessitating the use of extra lighting
to compensate when shooting indoors. Choosing a fast film
stock in this situation will make it possible to use a smaller
aperture, since they require less light to record an image
than slower stocks. You could also try to increase the camera to subject distance to create a deeper depth of field, but
this is not always an option when shooting indoors because
of space restrictions. Shooting on SD or HD works in your
110
favor in this case; the smaller CCD sensors most consumer and prosumer cameras use make it very easy to achieve
a deep depth of field, since their lenses have to produce a
much smaller image and therefore have much shorter focal
lengths than their larger format counterparts.
lighting
One of the ways that emblematic shots are identified as such,
is through a lighting scheme that is slightly different from
the rest of the film, creating a greater impact and demanding
extra attention form the viewer. The first two examples used
in this chapter exemplify this special attention to lighting.
In the example on the previous page, the natural light used
in the scene produces very long shadows. The director shot
this scene either very early in the morning or very late in the
afternoon, obtaining a beautiful orange glow. Shooting during or close to magic hour can produce amazing results, but
dramatically reduces the amount of time you have to shoot.
Faster film stocks will make it possible for you to continue
shooting right up until the sun sets if shooting at dusk, long
after digital video cameras start to display video noise. The
wide field of view of this shot would have made it nearly impossible to light with artificial lighting, unless cost was of no
concern. Just remember that magic hour is never really an
hour (but more like 20 to 30 minutes)!
breaking the rules
Although emblematic shots commonly rely on a complex arrangement of visual elements to make their point, sometimes
simple compositions, coupled with clever blocking of actors and inspired casting and art direction decisions, can be just as
effective. In this medium long shot from Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster)
enters an elevator filled with male FBI recruits, who provide a strong visual contrast because of their gender, the color of their
uniforms, height, and body language. Clarice is the focal point of the composition, placed at the center of the frame, looking besieged by the males around her (especially by the two at her sides, who seem particularly annoyed by her presence). Her gaze is
fixed upward (Lecter tells her that what she seeks most of all is “advancement”) while her hands are clasped over her genitals,
one of many visual cues in this film that underline the subtext of sexual tension between Clarice and male figures of authority.
EMBLEMATIC SHOT 111
The Soloist. Joe Wright, 2009.
112
abstract shot
abstract shot
The abstract shot originated in early avant-garde and experimental films from the 1920s; although initially they were
used exclusively in these kinds of films, they were eventually incorporated in mainstream narrative films (a famous
example being the “Stargate” sequence in Kubrick’s 2001:
A Space Odyssey). These shots emphasize colors, textures,
patterns, shapes, lines, and composition over their literal
content. They are usually non-representational and nonreferential, making it difficult or sometimes even impossible
to recognize the subject of their compositions. Because of
their abstract nature, audiences tend to extract meaning from these shots based on the raw emotional connection the graphic qualities of the image suggest, not unlike
the associations conjured after looking at the inkblots of a
Rorschach test. Sometimes, abstract shots have a subject
that is partially recognizable but is somehow distorted or abstractly presented in some way, resulting in an image that is
simultaneously familiar and foreign. Abstract shots are also
created by showing a fragmented aspect of a subject, isolating a visual detail in a way that makes it difficult to identify
without seeing it in a wider view. Because these shots are by
design visually striking, they can be especially useful as part
of the image system of a film. These shots are commonly
used to convey subtextual ideas that are not explicitly addressed, but are instead suggested by the graphic qualities
of the image itself. Because of this, abstract shots can add
extra layers of meaning to a narrative, sometimes commenting on the action of a scene, the intentions of a character,
or simply contributing to a recurring visual theme or motif
that somehow feeds into the larger canvas of your story. The
length of time an abstract shot (or a group of them) is kept
on the screen should be carefully planned, because their ap-
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50018-3
pearance normally has the effect of bringing a stop to the
conventional flow of a narrative. When seeing an abstract
shot, audiences have to become active rather than passive
observers if they are to understand how and why that shot
connects with the rest of the story; if this is done too often
or for too long, there is a possibility their investment with the
characters will wane, but this of course depends on how well
the abstract shots are integrated into the fabric of the story.
A good example of an abstract shot occurs in Joe
Wright’s The Soloist (2009), a film that follows the relationship that develops between a journalist for the L. A. Times,
Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nathaniel (Jamie Foxx),
a musically gifted homeless man who suffers from schizophrenia. After Lopez takes an interest in Nathaniel’s wellbeing, he brings him to a Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra
rehearsal, where we are shown a series of abstract shots of
colored lights as Nathaniel listens to the music. The idea behind these shots is not that he experiences music as flashing
lights, but to convey an abstract sense of his deep and complex connection with rhythm, harmony, and melody that cannot be conveyed with more literal, representational imagery.
Joe Wright’s The Soloist (2009) contains scenes that use
abstract shots to visualize the subjectivity of Nathaniel, a
musically gifted homeless man (Jamie Foxx), when he experiences a musical performance. The abstract shots (reminiscent of the “Stargate” sequence in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space
Odyssey) suggest the uniqueness of his connection to music.
ABSTRACT SHOT 113
abstract shot
why it works
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998), a poetic examination of war and its effect on the lives of the soldiers who
fight it, contains several instances where the narrative takes
a detour to concentrate on seemingly irrelevant visual details. These highly stylized shots usually concentrate on an
aspect of the location where the action of the scene happens. In this example, the abstract shot is cut in the middle
of a conversation between Witt (Jim Caviezel) and Hoke (Will
Wallace) after they are caught AWOL and thrown in a brig.
114
As Witt ponders his future, he momentarily focuses on the
subject of the shot shown above, prompting him to reminisce
about his childhood. We are never shown what the subject
of this shot is, but its graphic qualities can be interpreted
as evoking conformity (by the repeating pattern), the inorganic (when compared to similar shots used in other scenes
that showcase plants and animals), and the military (by the
greenish metal texture), all recurrent motifs examined in the
philosophical narrative of this film.
The same care and attention used when lighting
human subjects should also be applied to objects,
something beginning filmmakers often forget. In
this case, lights were positioned at an angle that
reveals the rough texture of the metal work, making even this abstract shot look visually interesting.
The metal grill was shot at an angle that emphasizes the z axis of the frame and suggests the existence of off-screen space to the audience, a technique commonly used to create depth and avoid the
inherent two-dimensionality of the frame.
The composition of this shot prevents the audience
from identifying exactly what they are looking at,
by purposely avoiding any visual details that could
be used for referencing either its scale or location
within the scene. Because of this, a viewer can only
focus on the purely graphic qualities of the shot: its
patterns, textures, and colors.
Sometimes, texture cannot be properly revealed
solely through lighting. Adding a liquid agent to a
subject to make its texture become visually engaging is a common practice, and the reason why so
many night exterior scenes feature wet streets.
The shallow depth of field focuses the audience’s
attention on the center of the frame, even though it
is indistinct from the rest of the composition; this
adds a sense of mystery and ambiguity to exactly
what the audience is meant to focus on this shot,
effectively underlining the abstract nature of the
image.
ABSTRACT SHOT
115
technical considerations
lenses
Abstract shots can be created using various techniques that
can include a combination of lenses, filtration, special lighting, and even post-production processes. Often, abstract
shots are just extreme close ups that magnify a small detail (sometimes with the use of a macro lens) of a subject to
such degree as to make it virtually unrecognizable. Another
way to create abstract shots is by purposely adding some
visual distortion to the subject; the easiest way to do this is
by using the lens blur that happens when an object is out of
focus, although specialized lenses like split field diopters
and tilt-shift lenses can also be used, depending on the
level of distortion desired (since these lenses allow you to
selectively control the focusing range over a section of the
image). Alternatively, abstract shots sometimes emphasize
patterns or lines present in the subject that might have to be
in focus for their associated meaning to come across. In this
case, the natural distortion (or lack thereof) resulting from
the use of wide angle, normal, and telephoto lenses should
be taken into account and used accordingly.
format
Regardless of the format, any camera-oriented variable or
adjustable setting is fair game to create abstract shots. The
more you are familiar with the technical capabilities of your
camera, the more options you will have to push the limits of
the stylistic envelop. Shooting on film lets you shoot at frame
rates that are slower or faster than the normal sync speed of
24 fps (25 fps in Europe), which in some cases can be used to
create abstract shots. Undercranking, or shooting at frame
rates slower than the norm, results in fast motion when
played back at regular speed; combined with an open shutter
(available only if your camera has a variable shutter function)
can produce a motion blur effect, especially if the subject of
the shot includes a lot of movement (like the example from
116
Reconstruction on the next page). If the undercranking requires even slower frame rates than those available in your
camera, it is also possible to use an intervalometer (a device
that lets you shoot at intervals of several seconds or even
minutes per frame), but be aware that not all film cameras
are equipped to be controlled this way. It is also important
to remember that undercranking causes more light reach
the film, especially when combined with an open shutter, so
exposure compensation is essential. If shooting HD, the option to shoot at lower frame rates is only available in some
prosumer and higher-end cameras, although it would be
possible, for instance, to shoot this footage with a still digital
camera as still images to then combine them by importing
every frame into an editing program (laborious, but possible,
especially if the shot does not need to be too lengthy in duration). Most NLE (non-linear editing) systems have all kinds
of video effects that can be used to distort images, but if you
shoot on film and plan to finish on film, these effects will
have to be scanned from the video files you output (assuming their resolution is acceptable to you; otherwise, they will
have to be recreated at a much higher resolution) and transferred to a negative so that they can be incorporated into the
final cut of your film, which can be an expensive proposition.
lighting
Some abstract shots are made entirely of light patterns that
can be created from scratch by the filmmaker or found “as
is” at a location (for example, a commonly used abstract shot
consists of out-of-focus car headlights shot at night with a
telephoto lens). Lighting can also be used to distort an image
by purposely adding flares, done by simply aiming lights toward the lens. If the abstract shot is meant to showcase the
texture of a subject, lighting can be used to reveal or conceal
it, as needed (as seen in the example on the previous page).
breaking the rules
The narrative of Christoffer Boe’s Reconstruction (2003) follows the strange events that happen after Alex (Nikolaj Lie Kaas)
leaves his girlfriend Simone (Maria Bonnevie) for Aimee (also played by Maria Bonnevie), seemingly causing an alternate reality to be created where none of his previous acquaintances recognizes him. The film has several abstract shots interspersed
throughout the story, like the one above, an undercranked shot of a subway tunnel shown when Alex leaves his girlfriend on a
train to pursue Aimee. Unlike most abstract shots, in this case we can easily recognize the source of the image, but the stylization created by shooting at a lower frame rate, combined with creative sound design, manages to make the audience concentrate on the shape, color, and texture of the image and the sci-fi concepts it evokes (a wormhole? A tunnel to an alternate
universe?) rather than the actual content of the shot.
ABSTRACT SHOT 117
Requiem for a Dream. Darren Aronofsky, 2000.
118
macro shot
macro shot
All macro shots are extreme close ups, but not all extreme
close ups are macro shots. The difference lies in the amount
of magnification of the image. For instance, while you might
be able to get a very tight close up of an eye using a prime
lens, you will not be able to get closer than the nearest
depth of field limit for the shortest focusing distance that
the lens allows, normally about 12 inches. A macro lens is a
specialized lens designed to work at extremely close focusing distances, and will let you get much closer (2 inches or
less), resulting in a huge image of the eye in the frame. This
makes macro shots ideal to capture extremely small details
of characters and objects. Like extreme close ups and close
ups, the closeness of macro shots can add a strong visual
emphasis to a subject that generates certain expectations
regarding its narrative significance (as per Hitchcock’s rule),
so their use should be justified at some point in the story; for
instance, a macro shot can be used to showcase an object
whose importance is unknown when first presented, but is
later revealed. Another common use involves editing a macro shot at the end of a series of shots of a subject that get increasingly tighter, conveying an increasing sense of tension
or importance. The high level of magnification macro shots
are capable of also lets you showcase textures and patterns
that are so small in real life that in some cases they become
completely unrecognizable to audiences when shown blown
up, making them ideal for abstract shots that do not have a
direct plot function, but are nonetheless integral to the image system of a film. Sometimes, the graphic qualities of a
macro shot is used to generate a question in the minds of
the audience, by showing them an abstract shot they can not
identify at first, to then cut to a series of increasingly wider
shots that finally reveal the subject. Because of their unique
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50019-5
technical requirements, macro shots have the common feature of having an extremely shallow depth of field, which will
severely restrict any movement by the subject in the frame.
Darren Aronofsky uses macro shots in his film Requiem for a Dream (2000) as part of mini-montages that
encapsulate the experience of being under the influence of
psychotropic drugs. In these visually arresting images, macro shots of pupils dilating (shot in time lapse) are combined
with other extreme close ups of dollar bills, increased blood
flow through a vein, various drugs in powder form being set
up for consumption, and an imaginative sound design. The
use of macro shots in these montages cleverly allow the
filmmaker to present the audience with images that they are
familiar with that look unusual because of their high degree
of magnification, creating a visual metaphor for the heightened perception of a drug user’s experience. Macro shots
are technically difficult to accomplish, but can provide you
with memorable, visually striking images with a level of detail that no other shot can show.
Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem For A Dream (2000) uses a series of recurrent macro shots of pupils dilating in highly stylized montages that visualize the effects of psychotropic drug
usage. Only a macro shot is capable of capturing this high
degree of magnification.
MACRO SHOT
119
macro shot
why it works
Macro shots capture extremely small details of a subject,
revealing textures and features even an extreme close up
cannot show. The closeness of this shot can make even
mundane objects, actions, or details of characters visually
interesting, while the emphasis it provides generates the
expectation that what is shown is narratively important and
meaningful to the story. An example of this is seen in Sean
Penn’s visually stunning Into the Wild (2007), a film that follows the plight of Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch) as he
120
struggles to survive the harsh Alaskan wilderness. Throughout the film, we see him carve extra holes into his belt as his
situation worsens and he physically wastes away. With every
extra hole he carves, we are shown increasingly tighter shots
of the knife cutting into the leather. Appropriately, the last
hole he makes takes on a monumental significance because
it is shown with a macro shot, making it impossible to get
any closer while conveying the impending doom that follows
not too long after this shot is shown.
The blade is centered in the frame, giving it a
strong visual emphasis as it cuts into the belt. Not
following the rule of thirds in this case makes for
a more powerful and confronting image, complementing the tension already present in the scene.
The macro shot can reveal a lot of detail that would
otherwise go unnoticed, like the engravings on this
belt; the added narrative emphasis is justified because this item has been a recurrent prop throughout the film, gauging the character’s chances for
survival.
The belt was framed so that it crosses the frame
diagonally, implying the existence of off-screen
space and adding depth to the shot by accentuating
the z axis of the frame.
This background does not match the one seen in
the preceding wider shots (shown above), but the
sudden change in shot size (from a medium shot to
this macro), combined with the extremely shallow
depth of field, the brevity of the edit, and the highly
dramatic content, make the lack of continuity imperceptible to most viewers.
The depth of field in a macro shot is extremely
shallow, making it especially critical to place the
most important aspect of the shot within the area
of sharp focus; in this case, the tip of the blade as it
digs into the leather belt.
MACRO SHOT
121
technical considerations
lenses
The options available to create these shots will depend on
your shooting format; there is a wide selection of macro
lenses available for 16mm and 35mm film, while prosumer
HD formats have close-up lenses, diopters, and wide angle
converters that attach directly to the native lens of the camera. If shooting HD with a 35mm lens adapter kit, you will
also have many macro lenses designed for still photography at your disposal. You should be aware, however, that not
every lens that can be used for macro cinematography will
yield the same results. Depending on the needs of your shot,
especially in terms of image quality and degree of magnification, you might want to use a macro lens designed specifically for that purpose instead of the cheaper alternatives (such
as close up lenses, wide angle converters, and diopters).
Another benefit of using an actual macro lens is that they
have barrel markings that indicate the level of magnification
(“1:1,” for instance, denotes that the size of the subject in
the frame will match its size in real life; “1:2” means the image captured will be half the actual size, etc.) as well as the
focusing distance, making exposure calculations much simpler. Since these shots involve an extremely short camera to
subject distance, the resulting depth of field will invariably
be so extremely shallow that is often confined to a plane instead of a region, making focusing very difficult, especially if
there is even the tiniest movement by the subject. One way
to alleviate this situation is by extending the depth of field
through the use of smaller apertures, as explained in the
next column.
format
If shooting with a prosumer HD camera, you should be prepared to have enough lighting to let you get deeper depths
of field, since you cannot increase the sensitivity of a CCD
sensor (unless you are willing to compromise image quality
122
by engaging the gain mode), and you will lose a lot of light
with the extra glass in front of your native lens, especially
if the macro lens will be added to an existing 35mm lens
adapter kit. Less expensive, consumer-grade HD cameras
have an advantage since many come with a built-in macro
mode; when engaged, it allows focusing on subjects that are
almost touching the lens, saving you the expense of having
to rent or purchase a macro lens adapter or a wide angle
converter. The downside of using these cameras is that their
HD formats have a lot of compression, and in some cases
are cumbersome or even impossible to edit with some NLE
(non-linear editing) systems without first transcoding to a
different format. Having a large preview monitor to confirm
the focus of macro shots is almost a necessity, since most
on-board LCD screens are simply too small for this purpose.
lighting
In some cases, the depth of field in macro shots is so shallow it cannot be measured as a range, but only as a total.
Because of this, even the slightest movement from either
the subject or the camera can throw an image out of focus.
The only way to ameliorate this situation is to increase the
depth of field as much as possible by closing down the aperture, which can only be done if additional lights are added
to prevent underexposing the image. Keep in mind that even
with extra lights, the resulting depth of field will still be very
shallow, but even a small increase in the depth of field will
make it easier to get a usable image. It is also important
to remember that the closeness of the camera to the subject can result in the lens casting a shadow over the subject,
restricting your placement of lighting fixtures; in this case,
diffused sources of light will work best, and there are also
specialized “ring lights” that can be fitted right on the lens
and provide soft, diffused light that can solve this problem.
breaking the rules
The imaginative opening credit sequence in Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca (1997) uses a series of macro shots of clipped fingernails,
shaved hair, and dried skin flakes falling in slow motion, establishing their importance in a world where even the smallest
organic trace can be used to identify people who were not genetically engineered before birth and therefore considered “invalids.” Some of the shots, however, are not macros at all; large plastic props made to look like skin flakes and shot at 360
frames per second were used to simulate them instead, creating a more visually compelling image than what could have been
done with a macro lens. The use of an extremely shallow depth of field makes the shot indistinguishable from the rest of the
real macros used in the sequence.
MACRO SHOT
123
The Conversation. Francis Ford Coppola, 1974.
124
zoom shot
zoom shot
Originally introduced to movies in the late 1950s, the zoom
lens allowed, for the first time, to change a lens’ focal length
while a shot is taken, letting filmmakers have a dynamic field
of view without the need to move the camera or switch lenses. Although zoom shots resemble dolly shots, they differ in
the way they depict space and movement. In a zoom shot, the
camera remains stationary, maintaining a constant perspective as the lens zooms from wide angle to telephoto (zoom
in) or from telephoto to wide angle (zoom out). In a dolly
shot, the perspective does not remain constant, because the
camera itself is being moved. Unlike dolly shots, where audiences feel as if they are moving toward or away from something in the frame, zoom shots make audiences feel as if an
aspect of the composition is being brought toward or away
from them. The primary function of a zoom shot is to change
the composition of the shot as it progresses, so that it either
includes previously unseen elements, or excludes already
seen aspects of the composition to concentrate on a single
subject. The change in focal length can be done manually, by
adjusting a zoom ring on the lens itself, or with the help of a
servo motor that allows an operator to control the speed at
which the focal length is changed (basically mimicking the
zoom switch in a video camera). The zooming action can be
smooth and steady or quick and jarring, depending on the
feel you want the audience to get from the shot. A frantic
and unsteady change in focal length, often used while hand
holding the camera in action films, showcases the means
used to adjust the composition as much as the change in
composition; in this case, framing errors and quick adjustments to the shot are part of the visual language of the genre
and are not seen by the audience as distracting (a legacy of
the documentary tradition, which introduced quick reframes
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50020-1
using zoom lenses to catch the action in real time). Because
zoom shots can radically change the framing of a shot without having to switch lenses, they often take the form of long
takes (shots that last more than the average length of just a
few seconds), or edited in rapid succession to create a sense
of tension and danger, depending on the speed and steadiness used to change the focal length.
A classic example of a zoom shot occurs in the opening title sequence of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974), where a high angle extreme long shot of Union
Square in San Francisco is shown while the audience hears
fragments of a conversation that is obviously being secretly
recorded somewhere below. The shot smoothly zooms into
the square, slowly tightening the frame until it finally reveals
its target: Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert
hired to record a conversation between a couple who might
be committing adultery. The use of a slow zoom in shot,
coupled with the sound of the conversation being recorded,
makes the audience complicit in the act of spying, cleverly
introducing one of the central themes of this film.
The opening title sequence from Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Conversation (1974) marks the first use ever of an electronically controlled zoom lens in a film, with a shot that gradually
reveals the central character, Harry Caul (Gene Hackman).
ZOOM SHOT
125
zoom shot
why it works
When a zoom shot changes its focal length suddenly, it can
convey a sense of urgency, tension, and danger; quick adjustments to the frame, unstable compositions, and temporarily out of focus subjects are normal and expected with this
style of shooting. The overall effect for the audience is that
they are witnessing action as it happens, in real time, even
though most of the time this is not the case. In this example
from Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Jason
126
Bourne (Matt Damon) has just discovered that somebody has
been sent after him, prompting him to pick up his girlfriend
Marie (Franka Potente) to escape the threat. The shot quickly
and unsteadily zooms in (or “crash zooms”) from a composition that includes Marie in the foreground to a waiting Jason
in the background, underlining the urgency and tension of
this moment in the story.
This subject position in the frame follows the rule
of thirds, creating a dynamic composition that is
further emphasized by the blocking of the subjects
along the z axis of the frame, creating a sense of
depth. Note the correct amount of headroom for a
shot this size given to the subject, also a result of
using the rule of thirds.
The short camera to subject distance used in this
shot resulted in a shallow depth of field, throwing
the background out of focus. Since this zoom shot
is changing the focal length and switching the focal point from the foreground to the background,
it was necessary to rack focus as the composition
was adjusted.
The composition of the shot was carefully designed
to ensure the car in the background would occupy
an area of the frame that is within the line of sight
of the character in the foreground and the camera,
yet the use of a crash zoom to execute the shot conveys the impression to the audience that this action
is simply happening in real time, unrehearsed.
The placement of this subject in the frame gives
him a bit too much headroom, but these small
framing errors are expected with this shooting
style, adding a documentary-like touch of realism
that increases the drama and tension in the scene.
The inclusion of this subject’s forehead is no accident. It acts as a repoussoir, an object included
in the frame to lead the viewer’s gaze to the focal point of the composition. It also adds depth to
the frame by implying the existence of off-screen
space.
Note the precise placement of the subject so that
he is framed within the frame by the shrubbery in
the foreground and the window of the car, making
him stand out even though he is not in the brightest
area of the composition.
ZOOM SHOT
127
technical considerations
lenses
Zoom lenses come in a variety of zoom ratios, giving you
many focal length options during shooting. One thing to
keep in mind is that zoom lenses have more internal elements than prime lenses (lenses with a fixed focal length),
and are therefore slower, with a maximum aperture that will
be significantly smaller than the maximum aperture of most
high-quality prime lenses. This means you will need more
light when using a zoom lens instead of a prime lens, a serious problem when shooting outdoors at night or indoors with
artificial lighting. Also, unless you use a very high quality
lens, the image quality of a zoom lens will be somewhat inferior to what you would get with a prime lens. A good zoom,
however, can be used instead of using several primes, saving you a lot of time during production that would otherwise
be spent switching lenses. If the zoom shot is taken with a
static camera, an easy technique to maintain sharp focus
over the range of the zoom is to first zoom all the way in to
your subject and find focus (while the zoom lens is set at its
longest focal length). You will then be able to zoom in or out
and the subject will remain in focus throughout the shot. If
the zoom shot is handheld, you will need a second person to
operate the focusing ring, since the camera operator will be
busy controlling the zoom ring. A follow focus attachment is
indispensable in this case, since it allows a focus puller (the
person controlling focus) much easier access to the focusing
ring. More expensive solutions include the use of a wireless
focusing system, allowing a focus puller to stand a few feet
away from the action and still pull focus as needed. Follow
focus attachments can also be connected to the zoom ring,
letting you control how steadily the zoom is accomplished. An
instance where this might be necessary, is when the zoom
shot encompasses the entire zoom range of the lens. In this
case, you might not be able to turn the focal length ring all
the way without having to switch hands at some point, dis128
rupting the steadiness of the zoom. Some follow focus attachments can even be adjusted so that a small turn of their
knobs results in a longer turn of the zoom ring on the lens,
simplifying long zooms (or focusing) tremendously.
format
Most SD and HD cameras come equipped with a native zoom
lens, designed to meet the optical requirements of their
electronic components. Unfortunately, the optics inherent in
a zoom lens, coupled with the lower sensitivity of the typical
CCD sensor, make it difficult to shoot in low-light situations
without supplementary lighting. When used with a 35mm
lens adapter kit, the light it cuts makes it almost imperative
to have extra lights for most situations except when shooting
on sunny interiors or exteriors. However, the zoom lenses
found on most SD and HD cameras do have an advantage
over zooms used in film. With most video cameras, you can
change the focal length steadily and smoothly across the
entire zoom range with a motorized servo zoom switch. In
some prosumer cameras you can even select among various
zoom speeds. In film cameras you cannot do this without a
motorized follow focus attachment to control the zooming
action, as shown in the example from Coppola’s The Conversation.
lighting
Since zoom lenses tend to be slower than primes, more
lights are needed when using them than would be necessary if you were using a prime lens of the same focal length.
In these cases, it becomes necessary to weigh the benefits
of renting a zoom lens instead of several primes, since any
money saved will be offset by the cost of having to rent extra
lighting. On the other hand, a zoom can save you a lot of time
during production, since you no longer need to switch lenses
to change focal length.
breaking the rules
Although this shot appears to have been taken with a zoom lens, it is in fact an optically printed zoom, its magnification created
not through zooming during production but with the use of an optical printer in postproduction. The telltale sign of this process
is the loss of resolution and increase in graininess as the shot zooms in, an unavoidable side effect since the optical printer is
simply rephotographing an already-shot piece of film. In this example, from the opening dream sequence from David Lynch’s
The Elephant Man (1980), the extra graininess does not feel out of place, adding instead a stylized look to the surreal imagery
that visualizes the imagined birth of the titular character.
ZOOM SHOT
129
Kagemusha. Akira Kurosawa, 1980.
130
pan shot
pan shot
In a pan shot, the camera scans space horizontally pivoting
left or right while remaining stationary, mounted on a tripod
or even handheld. The term pan is short for panoramic: the
showing of an unbroken view of an area. Panning shots are
often used to follow a subject as it moves across a location
(called pan with shots), and are said to be “motivated” camera moves because the movement of the subject motivates
the movement of the camera. Pan shots are also used to
shift the view from one subject to another; in these shots,
also called pan to shots, the movement of the camera is not
motivated by the movement of a subject, making the camera
move more apparent to the audience unless some aspect
in the narrative internally motivates the pan; for instance,
a character looking at something off-screen can motivate a
pan that reveals what she is looking at when it traces her
gaze. Panning the camera instead of using individual shots to
cover a particular aspect of a scene should take into account
that a pan preserves the integrity of real time and space, and
therefore can convey to an audience that some special connection is taking place that requires its use. For instance,
you might want to pan with a character as he moves about a
location to establish, in real time, how long it takes him to get
across it, or the spatial relationships that exist at that location if this information plays a critical role in your story. Panning can also be used to preserve the integrity of a particularly important performance by an actor that could have its
impact diminished if editing were used instead. An argument
between a couple, for instance, could be covered by panning
back and forth between them instead of using a more typical shot/reverse shot combination, to convey the heightening
of emotions as they get increasingly agitated; the panning
speed of the camera could even be choreographed to match
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50021-3
the intensity of their exchange, while letting the audience experience the argument in real time would make the scene
stand out from other scenes that use conventional editing
techniques. All of these factors can be considered when trying to decide whether to use a pan shot or a combination of
shots to cover a particular scene or moment within a scene
in your film.
The example on the left, from Akira Kurosawa’s
Kagemusha (1980), uses a pan with shot to follow the titular
character (Tatsuya Nakadai), a lowly thief, as he impersonates a recently deceased general. As he reviews his troops,
he gets caught up in the excitement of suddenly being treated as a respected leader, breaking into a furious gallop while
his soldiers cheer him. Kurosawa pans with the character as
he makes his way by the troops, using a telephoto lens that
narrows the field of view considerably. The resulting shot, a
Kurosawa stylistic signature, makes the impersonator look
like he is moving much faster than he really is because of
the telephoto’s effect on movement across the x axis of the
frame while panning, effectively conveying his unbridled exhilaration in this scene.
This pan shot from Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha (1980)
takes advantage of the reduced field of view of the telephoto
lens to accelerate the perceived motion across the x axis of
the frame as it pans with the titular character (Tatsuya Nakadai).
PAN SHOT 131
pan shot
why it works
Panning can be used as an alternative to editing when it is
preferable to preserve the integrity of a particularly meaningful performance, relationship, or moment in a scene. In
this pivotal scene from Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces
(2009), Mateo (Lluís Homar) enters a bathroom to discover
that Lena (Penélope Cruz), his lover and the star of his film
was physically abused by her pathologically jealous married
lover, a wealthy businessman. The entire scene plays with-
132
out any edits, panning from Lena to Mateo when he enters,
then back to Lena when he notices her bloody bruises, culminating in a two shot that maximizes the use of a mirror to
show both his reaction and her wounds in the same image.
The use of handheld panning within a single shot instead of
editing shots of various sizes adds tension and realism to
their encounter, letting the audience witness the action as it
unfolds in real time.
Her reflection is in focus, which means that the
camera to subject distance used to set the focus
was the result of adding the distance from the
camera to the mirror, and then from the mirror
to the subject (setting the focus exclusively to the
surface of the mirror could have resulted in the
subject being out of focus).
Placement of the subject’s reflection follows the
rule of thirds, giving her the proper amount of
headroom and resulting in a dynamic composition that complements the dramatic nature of this
scene.
A light was placed directly over the sink, highlighting her arm as she washes the blood away. Because this is the brightest area of the frame, the
audience’s attention will be attracted to it, making
this the focal point of the composition.
The inclusion of the subject in the foreground of
the frame adds depth the composition and pulls
the viewer’s gaze toward the focal point of the shot
at this stage; the bloody elbow under the faucet.
Almodovar’s films are known for their thoughtful
art direction and creative use of color. In this scene,
the bathroom and the man’s shirt share the same
pale hue of blue, a passive color, perhaps hinting at
his inability to help her. The blandness of the bathroom is broken by the vibrant red used on the hand
dryer, which also makes the blood on her wounds
stand out even more in the composition.
The mirror is cleverly used to let the audience see
both the shocked expression on the man’s face and
her bloody wounds.
The extra headroom over this subject is the result
of giving the man the proper amount of headroom
for a shot this size. This is an unusual compromise
when including two subjects of different heights
(although it works within the context of the scene);
often, shorter actors are given apple boxes to stand
on to prevent these discrepancies.
The composition of the shot was adjusted from an
over the shoulder shot to a two shot without cutting, preserving the natural dramatic momentum
of the scene and the performance of the actors.
PAN SHOT
133
technical considerations
lenses
Since a pan scans space horizontally, your choice of focal
length can have a major impact in how the audience perceives movement across the x axis relative to fixed objects in
the foreground and background of the frame. For instance,
a pan with shot that follows a subject with a wide angle lens
will make it look as if he is moving slower across the frame
than he is in reality. This effect is the result of the wider field
of view that shorter focal length lenses have, and becomes
more pronounced with wider angle lenses. If the same shot
were taken using a telephoto lens, the effect would be reversed, with the subject appearing to move faster across the
x axis of the frame, as seen in the example from Kurosawa’s
Kagemusha at the beginning of this chapter. Focal length
also has an impact on the speed at which you can safely pan
without creating a strobing effect, as explained below.
equipment
The panning of the camera should be absolutely steady unless camera shake is part of the visual strategy you designed
for your film (by choosing to shoot with a handheld camera,
for instance). Any jerkiness will immediately call attention
to itself and make the audience aware of the camera, so if
a smooth pan is desired, it is imperative to make sure that
the tripod head allows you to have precise control over the
speed and movement of the panning action. Most tripods
come equipped with some resistance mechanism (friction or
fluid based) that smooths out panning and tilting to a constant speed; this resistance is adjustable, so that you can
pan as slowly or as quickly as necessary with an even pace
throughout. Before panning, it is important to make sure the
tripod is perfectly level, otherwise the pan will gradually dip
or rise; most tripods have a bubble that lets you level the
head on which the camera rests precisely for this purpose. It
is also important to be aware of the strobing effect that can
134
appear at certain panning speeds when shooting at 24 or 25
fps (with either film or video); if a pan moves beyond a certain
speed, strobing, or a stuttering of the image, will be seen.
This effect will become more pronounced with longer focal
lengths, and will also be affected by the shutter angle being
used. The general rule of thumb to prevent strobing is that
it should take about 5-7 seconds to pan across the length of
the frame; panning at this speed will ensure that the image
will not judder (most cinematography manuals have panning speed tables you can consult for this purpose). There is,
however, one type of pan in which strobing is of no concern;
a swish pan, where the camera snaps from one subject to
another, purposely creating a blurry image while in transit. Swish pans are commonly used as transitions between
scenes, using the resulting blur to conceal the edit point
between two shots. They are sometimes also used within a
scene to quickly pan from one subject to another, placing a
dramatic emphasis on the subject at the end of the pan.
lighting
Whether you are panning with a subject or panning from
one subject to another, the depth of field you have will affect your ability to maintain focus throughout the shot. If, for
aesthetic or technical reasons, you choose to use a shallow
depth of field while panning from a subject to another, you
might have to adjust the focus if the second subject if placed
at a different distance from the camera than the first subject. However, if you wanted to have all subjects in focus as
you pan, you would need to have a deep depth of field, which
can only be obtained by using a small aperture that requires
enough lighting to avoid underexposing your image. This will
of course not be a problem while shooting day exteriors, but
might prove challenging while shooting indoors or night exteriors.
breaking the rules
A swish pan (a shot that pans the camera fast enough to create blur) is used in this scene from Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz (2007)
to shift the view to top London Cop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) as he arrives to meet his girlfriend Janine (Cate Blanchett),
only to find out she has dumped him. Swish pans are commonly used as transitions between scenes, or to place a dramatic
emphasis on a subject at the end of the pan when used within a scene. In this example, however, a swish pan is used to conceal
an edit within the same scene, and the dramatic emphasis is used as a visual punch line; Wright’s work is known for appropriating visual techniques from the horror and science fiction genres for his comedies.
PAN SHOT 135
Solaris. Steven Soderbergh, 2002.
136
tilt shot
tilt shot
Tilt shots pivot the camera up or down while it remains stationary, mounted on a tripod or handheld; this move shifts
the audience’s attention from one area to another, vertically
extending the range of the visual scope of the shot. The dynamic frame produced by this vertical move is commonly
used as an establishing shot, introducing a location by
tilting the camera down to gradually reveal it to the audience. Sometimes the tilt ends on a character, showing her
arriving or leaving. Another variation includes first showing a character, usually after an exchange with someone,
then tilting the camera up to reveal the location, providing
a context (i.e., comic or ironic) to their previous exchange.
Like pan shots, tilt shots preserve the integrity of real time,
space, and a performance, so their use should be reserved
for those moments in your story when it is narratively meaningful to make this choice rather than using individual shots
to cover the same action. The tilting of the camera can be
motivated by the movement of a character or some other
aspect of the scene (like a character looking up or down at
something off- screen that is revealed by a tilt that traces
their gaze). Unmotivated camera movement is sometimes
avoided because it can call attention to itself and distract the
audience from the story; however, there are instances where
an unmotivated move can be used to indicate that a special
connection exists between two subjects at either end of the
tilt shot. For example, tilting from a person standing on the
ground to an airplane flying overhead can suggest any number of connections depending on the story’s context (i.e. his
dream of flying, his desire to return home, the phobia which
keeps him from a lover far away, etc.). Tilt shots are substantially less frequently used than pan shots, since most action
is commonly staged on the screen along the x or z axes of
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50022-5
the frame; it is rare, for instance, to have an exchange between two characters placed at two substantially different
heights that would give you an opportunity to tilt back and
forth between them. The most common tilt shots go largely
unnoticed by the audience, since they take the form of slight
vertical reframes that happen when characters move closer
or farther away from the camera, in order to maintain proper
headroom as per the rule of thirds.
A tilt shot is used to establish a connection between
a location and a character in this example from Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris (2002). Part of a brief opening montage
that shows a day in the life of troubled psychologist Chris
Kelvin (George Clooney), the shot begins with a slow tilt down
from the ceiling of a futuristic office to a group therapy session he is conducting. Still reeling from the death of his wife,
Chris’ life has become stagnant and listless, an expository
point that is underlined by the way this tilt shot connects
the repetitive pattern of the ceiling and walls, which are also
reminiscent of a cage or a cell, to a medium close up that
shows him hunched in his chair. This unmotivated camera
move is performed slowly enough to effectively create an abstract shot when the repeating patterns fill the frame at the
beginning of the tilt, while Chris’ slow reveal as the camera
tilts down makes the visual connection between him and the
patterns on the ceiling and the walls hard to miss.
This tilt shot from Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris (2002) creatively connects the repetitive abstract patterns found in this
location to convey the predictability and stagnation in Chris
Kelvin’s (George Clooney) life after the death of his wife.
TILT SHOT 137
tilt shot
why it works
Tilt shots are often used as establishing shots, introducing a
location as a character is seen arriving or leaving it. In this
example from Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges (2008), a tilt shot
establishes the Belfry tower of Bruges as Ray (Colin Farrell,
left) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson, right), Irish hitmen laying
low after a botched killing, come to visit it. The shot begins by
showing the top of the tower, then quickly tilts down to end
in a two shot of the characters. While the use of a tilt seems
138
merely utilitarian and narratively inconsequential at this
stage, it gains tremendous relevance and poignancy as the
story progresses, when one the characters seen here jumps
to his death from the top of the tower after a climactic scene.
Only then is it revealed that the tilting action and the speed
of its execution in this shot were foreshadowing that fall - a
brilliant example of an image system at work.
The central framing of the tower produces a symmetric composition that conveys its eventual importance in the story. A rule of thirds placement
would have created a more dynamic frame, but it
would have prevented the tilt from creating a direct
line, and therefore a clear connection, between the
tower and the characters at the end of the shot.
The tilt begins with an extreme low angle shot that
mimics the point of view of someone looking up at
the tower from the ground. This framing also maximizes the length of the tilt as it scans the tower on
its way to the ground.
As the camera tilts down to the ground below, real
space is preserved, emphasizing the height of the
tower. This narrative point could not be conveyed
if two shots (one showing the tower and another
showing the characters below) had been used instead of the tilt.
The tilt shot ends in a two shot that frames these
characters in a medium close up that is also a balanced composition. This shot size allows the audience to focus on the expressions of their faces
along with some body language.
The placement of both subjects roughly follows the
rule of thirds (the dot shows the exact location of
the top right sweet spot), providing them with the
proper amount of headroom for a shot this size,
although a bit of a compromise was made since
the subject on the right side of the frame is slightly
taller than the one on the left. In these cases, the
taller subject should be given the correct amount
of headroom over the shorter subject.
While a wide angle lens would have distorted the
perspective along the z axis at the beginning of the
tilt, making the tower seem even taller and the tilt
down more pronounced, it would have also distorted the characters at the end of the shot. Instead, a
focal length closer to normal was used.
The tilt is doing more than just establishing the
location and visually connecting the tower with
the characters; the dynamic framing is also foreshadowing an event that will take place later in the
story, making the tilting of the camera narratively
meaningful.
TILT SHOT
139
technical considerations
lenses
The perceived vertical movement of tilt shots, like the horizontal movement of pan shots, can be greatly affected by
your choice of focal length. Wide angle lenses make movement along the x axis appear to move slower than in real life
(and telephotos faster); this also applies to movement along
the y axis of the frame, although it is less common to have
a shot where a character moves upward or downward in the
frame that necessitates a tilting move of the camera. A common use of a tilt shot is to establish a location, sometimes
also showing a character. In this case, focal length can be
chosen according to the dramatic effect the optical distortion
produced by a wide angle or telephoto lens can add to the
location being established. You might, for instance, choose
a wide angle lens for a tilt shot that establishes a building,
so that it looks taller and more imposing than in real life. If
a telephoto lens were used instead, the building would look
much shorter and less imposing.
equipment
Like all dynamic frame shots and camera moves, tilt shots
must be executed free of any shakiness unless it is intended
(for instance, when a handheld camera is part of your visual
strategy). Professional tripod heads come equipped with a
fluid or friction based resistance mechanism for this purpose, allowing you to have smooth tilting action at any speed
you need. For instance, the fast tilt down in the example from
In Bruges, on the previous page, would require you to set
the friction control to the lowest setting so that the camera
pivots quickly yet smoothly. On the other hand, setting the
friction control to the highest setting would allow you to create a very slow yet completely smooth tilt like the one used
in the example from Solaris at the beginning of this chapter. It is also important to make sure that the tripod head
is completely level before attempting a tilt, otherwise it will
140
gradually cant towards either side of the frame as you tilt
the camera up or down. To prevent this from happening, all
you need to do is align the bubble level included on most
tripod heads. The speed at which the tilt is executed should
take into account the strobing (a juddering of the image) that
can occur if the camera is pivoted too quickly, just like in
a pan shot. Unfortunately, the rule of thumb used to prevent strobing in pan shots cannot be applied to tilt shots,
since they move vertically, but it is not that difficult to work
out the maximum tilting speed that will not create judder if
you account for the aspect ratio of the format you are using.
For instance, the rule of thumb states that a pan should last
from 5-7 seconds to scan the length of a frame to prevent
strobing. If your aspect ratio is 1.78:1, a tilt should last 2.8
seconds to scan the height of a frame to avoid strobing. It is
also extremely important to make sure the camera’s weight
is distributed evenly on the tripod head, especially if heavy
zooms or big batteries are on board. Most professional tripods come equipped with a sliding base plate mechanism
that lets you move the camera backward or forward on the
tripod to distribute the weight evenly. An uneven camera can
easily tip over during a tilt if its weight is not properly centered on the tripod.
lighting
While tilt shots occur less frequently than pan shots, you
might be in a situation where you want to quickly tilt between
subjects without having to refocus the lens. In this case, being able to work with a deep depth of field will make this
possible, provided you have enough light to use a small aperture without underexposing your image. One problem to
be aware of is that tilt shots are more prone to catching lens
flares from overhead sources of light, making it necessary
to reposition them, use French flags to block them from the
lens, or move the camera to avoid them, unless they are part
of your visual strategy.
breaking the rules
In this beautifully poignant shot, from Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987), a tilt is combined with a dolly in move that gradually tightens the frame to isolate Cassiel (Otto Sander), an angel who comforts lost souls. Uncommonly, in this shot the tilt
move takes precedence over the dolly, creating a visually poetic composition that makes the angel appear to rise into the sky.
TILT SHOT 141
Ratcatcher. Lynne Ramsay, 1999.
142
dolly shot
dolly shot
Dolly shots are accomplished by placing the camera on a
wheeled platform that can be moved smoothly. Although similar to a zoom shot (both shots create a dynamic frame with
a constantly changing composition along the z axis), there
are fundamental differences between them. In a zoom shot,
the camera remains stationary while the focal length of the
lens is shifted so the changes in framing are perceived by the
audience as if an aspect of the composition is brought closer
or moved away from them. Since the dolly shot physically
moves the camera while the focal length remains constant,
there is a constant change in perspective in the composition,
resulting in the audience feeling as if they are the ones moving toward or away from an aspect in the frame. Dolly shots,
like all moving camera shots, can be used to reveal, conceal,
or comment on an action or situation. An extremely common
use of the dolly shot is called the “dolly in,” where the camera
is brought increasingly closer to the face of a character as he
or she makes a meaningful discovery or has to make an important decision. Using a dolly shot instead of cut (to a tighter
framing of the face) allows the tension, suspense, and drama
of this moment to unfold gradually in real time, while the dynamic composition visually underlines it and makes it stand
out from the rest of the scene. Used this way, the dolly shot
adds a narrative context that would not be there if only static
shots were used, as if commenting on the importance of the
moment. Another common use of the dolly shot is the “dolly
out” where the camera slowly moves away from a character,
usually after an undesirable event has just taken place. The
increasingly wider framing in this shot makes the character
look gradually smaller in the frame, often indicating a loss of
confidence, power, or increasing loneliness or despair. Dolly
shots can also be used to reveal an important aspect of a
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50023-7
scene that was initially concealed (or vice versa), often accompanying a character who experiences the revelation; the
dynamic composition highlights the narrative importance of
the discovery, and allows the audience to participate in that
experience in real time with the character. Because of the
strong visual and narrative statements they can make, dolly
shots should be used sparingly, reserved for those moments
in the story where the audience should make a strong connection with a situation or a character.
An excellent example of a dolly shot that both reveals
an important aspect of a scene and comments on it happens
in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher (1999), the harrowing tale
of a 12 year old boy, James (William Eadie), who comes of
age in an impoverished area of Glasgow in the 1970s. After
sneaking away on a bus, he arrives at a partially completed
housing project set in an idyllic section of the countryside.
Inside one of the houses, the camera slowly dollies in to a
window as James approaches it, to then follow after him as
he jumps out into a wheat field, in one the film’s most beautifully surrealistic images. The dolly move gradually reveals
the vastness of the field and allows the audience to experience, through the movement of the camera, the exhilaration
and magic of this meaningful moment in James’ life.
A dolly in visually underlines a surrealistically beautiful moment in the life of James, a 12 year old growing up in an impoverished area of Glasgow, in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher
(1999).
DOLLY SHOT
143
dolly shot
why it works
One of the most common uses of the dolly shot is as a “dolly
in,” creating an increasingly tighter framing of a character’s
face to underline a meaningful moment of discovery or reflection, as seen in this dolly shot from Steven Spielberg’s
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
has just failed to rescue an old flame, Marion (Karen Allen)
and believes she is dead. A resourceful man used to facing
danger at every turn, he now finds himself unprepared to
144
deal with the real consequences of his adventures. The dolly
in tightens the frame from a medium shot that showcases
body language and location to a medium close up that concentrates on the pained expression of his face. This camera
move cues the audience to the dramatic impact of this emotional moment, and by preserving real time, it also echoes
the sudden stop in the narrative flow caused by her death.
The camera to subject distance at this point in the
dolly shot resulted in a somewhat deep depth of
field, which combined with the wide framing allows
the inclusion of much of the activity in the background. As the camera moves closer, the tighter
framing and shrinking depth of field separate the
character from the surrounding area, letting the
audience connect with his pain.
Even though everyone else in the frame is lit with
diffused light, the main subject here was lit with
the conventional three-point lighting, designed to
make him stand out in the composition and to draw
the viewers’ attention to him. This convention is so
widespread that almost no one notices its artifice,
even in shots where it should look out of place, like
this day exterior shot.
The dolly begins with a medium shot that shows
the subject in the center of the frame. This central placement creates a static composition that
effectively conveys his current state of mind; he is
distraught after the death of his former lover and
unable to proceed with his quest.
As the camera approaches the subject, it has to
gradually tilt up to adjust the amount of headroom
for the new composition of the shot. Compare the
cropped head in this framing, proper for a medium
close up, to the headroom at the beginning of the
dolly shot. The tilt also resulted in a slight lowangle framing, used here against convention (low
angles usually suggest power and dominance, not
weakness) but necessary because of the camera
movement.
The much shorter camera to subject distance has
thrown the background out of focus and tightened
the frame, showcasing the subject while excluding
most of the background. A focus puller made sure
that the character remained in focus throughout
the length of the shot, a must anytime the camera
is moved closer or farther away from a subject.
This bottle peeking into the edge of the frame plays
a very important role; it adds depth by adding a
layer to what otherwise would be only a two-layer
composition (foreground and background), and it
suggests the existence of off-screen space, opening the frame.
As the dolly gets closer to frame the subject in a
medium close up, a slight change in the composition was carefully executed to give him the proper amount of looking room at the left side of the
frame, since that’s the direction he is now facing.
DOLLY SHOT
145
technical considerations
lenses
Choosing a lens for a dolly shot will depend on a number of
variables, among them: how close to the subject the shot will
get, how much of the surrounding are you want the audience
to see, how far or close you want the background to appear,
and the depth of field you need to have at every stage of the
shot. While having to consider so many factors might seem
daunting at first, it is not as difficult as it appears. A first step
is to prioritize the needs of the shot; what is the main narrative point of the dolly move? Is it to showcase the reaction
of a character? The way he or she relates to the surrounding
area? Both? You might, for instance, pick a lens based on the
amount of distortion it will add to the face of a character as
the dolly shot ends. Alternatively, you might want the actual
movement of the camera toward or away from a character to
be underlined visually, choosing a wide angle lens to exaggerate the distance covered or a telephoto to minimize it.
You might also want to include a meaningful aspect of the
surrounding area at some point during the beginning or ending of the shot, and therefore choose a focal length based
on the field of view it can give you instead. Depth of field
is an important factor if a subject needs to remain in focus
over the length of the shot (an exception being a shot where
the focus is preset to a given distance, so that only when the
camera dollies to that distance the shot comes into focus). If
a shallow depth of field is used, it might be extremely hard for
the focus puller (the crew member in charge of manipulating
the focusing ring on the lens to maintain constant focus on a
subject) to do her job, and you might end up choosing a focal
length and aperture combination that does not require you to
pull focus too often.
equipment
Dolly shots are executed by placing the camera on a moving
platform with wheels, which might or might not need tracks.
146
A skateboard dolly, for instance, uses PVC piping for tracks,
can be noisy, might need a lot of room (if the dolly shot includes a turn, for instance), and it might take a long time
to set up if the terrain is uneven, but it is light and easy to
transport. A doorway dolly is a common alternative: it is quiet
(critical if you will be recording sound while shooting), does
not need tracks, fits through standard size doorways, takes
almost no time to set up, and is highly maneuverable. You
don’t need to restrict yourself to specialized equipment however; any device that will let you move the camera smoothly
while keeping an eye on the composition of the shot can be
used, like wheelchairs, wheeled tripods, and even homemade solutions. No matter what piece of hardware you use
to accomplish the dolly shot, having one will automatically
add time to your production schedule, since any shot that includes movement is inherently more difficult to execute and
takes extra time to set up, light, and rehearse.
lighting
If the dolly shot is relatively subtle and does not cover much
ground, your lighting strategy will not differ much from what
you would do if the shot were static. However, if the dolly
shot covers a lot of space, for instance going from a long
shot to medium close up, things can get complicated, since
you then have to light both the location and the character
to look visually compelling at every stage of the shot. For
instance, if the dolly shot includes a wide field of view and
you are using artificial lighting, your sources might have to
be placed relatively far from the subject, necessitating much
stronger lights than you would need if the dolly shot had a
tighter framing. This is why it is important to take into account the lighting needed while considering what lens to use
for the dolly (or any other shot).
breaking the rules
Dolly shots are commonly used to underline a meaningful moment in a scene, often when a character makes a discovery or an
important decision. This dolly shot from François Ozon’s Swimming Pool (2003), the story of a mystery novel writer (Charlotte
Rampling) in search of inspiration, does something quite unusual; it moves sideways instead of toward the character, indicating
that something unusual is taking place besides her having a sudden burst of creativity. The audience is kept in the dark about
the meaning of this shot until the end of the film, where a twist typical of the kind of novels she writes changes the context of
everything they have seen.
DOLLY SHOT
147
Taking Lives. D.J. Caruso, 2004.
148
dolly zoom shot
dolly zoom shot
Also known as a “counter zoom,” “contra zoom,” “trombone
shot,” “zolly,” and perhaps most famously, the “Vertigo effect” shot, the dolly zoom was introduced to the mainstream
cinematic vocabulary in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), to
visualize the fear of heights experienced by detective John
Ferguson (James Stewart) at key moments in the story. The
shot is created by using a combination of a dolly shot with a
zoom shot, working in tandem so that as the camera dollies
in toward a subject, the lens is zoomed out, or zoomed in if
the camera dollies out. The resulting shot, when executed
properly, keeps the subject’s size constant in the frame while
the background perspective changes drastically, appearing
to get closer or further away. The effect is extremely overt
and unsettling, and is therefore reserved for moments in a
story when something especially meaningful is taking place.
A very common use of the dolly zoom shot is in situations
where a character has a sudden realization, or is surprised
by something they see or learn. Other uses include visualizing extreme emotional states, like rage, obsession, falling
in love, paranoia, fear, and even drug-induced states. The
speed at which the dolly zoom shot is executed can affect
the way it is interpreted by the audience and the emotions it
can convey. To convey extreme emotions, the dolly zoom is
usually performed quickly, making the change in perspective in the background extremely noticeable. In other cases,
the dolly zoom is performed very slowly, making the shift in
perspective subtle and at times difficult to see; the effect is
not as unsettling, conveying that something meaningful, although not necessarily extreme in nature, is taking place.
A less common use of the dolly zoom is to showcase the
background of the composition instead of a subject in the
foreground, who is kept out of focus; in this case the dolly
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50024-9
zoom visualizes a character’s warped perception of their
surroundings, normally due to their state of mind or supernatural influences (a favorite visual trope in Horror films).
The example on the opposite page, from D.J. Caruso’s Taking Lives (2004), shows the most common use of the
dolly zoom shot, as an FBI profiler (Angelina Jolie) helping
to catch a serial killer suddenly discovers that a witness she
became intimate with is in fact responsible for the murders.
The dolly zoom used here starts with the zoom lens set as a
wide angle and a short camera to subject distance. As the
shot progresses, the camera is quickly dollied away while
the zoom lens is adjusted into its telephoto range, keeping
the subject size constant while the background appears to
get closer to her (note how much less of the walls in the hallway can be seen in the last frame than in the first frame). The
dolly zoom effectively conveys the surprise, disorientation,
and shock felt by the character at this critical moment. This
shot also demonstrates that when the size of the subject is
kept constant, a change in focal length does not affect the
depth of field when counterbalanced by a shift in camera to
subject distance, as seen in the background, which remains
consistently out of focus whether the zoom lens is set to a
wide angle (at the beginning of the shot) or a telephoto setting (at the end).
A classic use of the dolly zoom shot is to underline a character’s sudden realization that something is wrong, as seen in
this example from D.J. Caruso’s Taking Lives (2004).
DOLLY ZOOM SHOT 149
dolly zoom shot
why it works
The unusual change in perspective produced by a dolly
zoom can visualize a meaningful moment or situation, indicating to the audience that something out of the ordinary
is taking place. In this example from Mathieu Kassovitz’
La Haine (1995), a dolly zoom shot is used to convey how
a group of friends raised in the “banlieues” (impoverished
150
French housing projects) feel when they arrive in Paris to
collect a debt. Although Vinz (Vincent Cassel, left) and Saïd
(Saïd Taghmaoui, right) appear to be indifferent to their surroundings, the dolly zoom reveals how uncomfortable they
are when they find themselves outside of their marginalized
neighborhood.
As the dolly zoom shot begins, the camera is set
close to the subjects, while the zoom lens is set at
a short focal length so that it functions as a wide
angle. Note the expansion of distances along the
z axis of the frame, evidenced by the converging
lines of the buildings at a vanishing point at the
center of the frame.
The camera is slightly tilted down so that the subjects are shot from a slight high angle, ensuring
the inclusion of the buildings in the background.
As the camera is dollied away from the subjects,
it will have to slightly tilt up to maintain the proper amount of headroom. Note how the top of the
handrail is visible in this frame but cannot be seen
at the end of the shot (bottom frame), after the
camera was tilted up.
The tower in the background is now much larger
than it was at the beginning of the shot, but the
depth of field has not changed, it has only become
more apparent because the long focal length set
in the zoom lens has brought it closer to the foreground and enlarged it, making it easier to notice
how blurry it was all along. Note the flattening of
the perspective in the architectural lines in the
background, also caused by the zoom lens now set
at a telephoto focal length equivalent.
The size of the characters remains constant, but
their facial features are changed since they are
first shot with the equivalent of a wide angle lens,
which distorts along the z axis, and then with the
equivalent of a telephoto lens, which flattens along
the z axis. In medium long shots like this one, the
change in distortion is not too obvious, but in tighter shots like a medium close up or a close up, they
will be more visible.
As the camera was dollied away from the subjects,
it was necessary to slightly tilt it up to maintain the
proper amount of headroom for a shot this size.
Note how the top of the handrail is no longer visible from this angle.
DOLLY ZOOM SHOT
151
technical considerations
lenses
The zoom ratio of the zoom lens you use can determine how
drastic the change in perspective in the background will be,
and will also affect how much the camera will need to be
moved towards or away from subjects to keep them at a constant size in the frame. For instance, the zoom ratio of the
lens used in the example on the first page of this chapter,
from Taking Lives, is not as high as the zoom ratio of the lens
used in the example from La Haine on the previous page, as
seen by the different levels of magnification in their respective backgrounds. A zoom with a high zoom ratio will also
make it more challenging to maintain the subjects in focus
as the camera is moved, necessitating precise measurements to determine the exact camera to subject distance at
both ends of the shot. It is also important to determine the
amount of distortion that is acceptable to have on the subject, since at both ends of the dolly zoom you will have wide
angle warping or telephoto flattening of facial features.
While this might not be too noticeable in a medium long or
medium shot, it might be an issue in medium close ups and
close ups.
equipment
As with a moving camera zoom shot, a focus puller will be
necessary for a dolly zoom shot, since the camera to subject
distance does not remain constant. A follow focus attachment will simplify matters tremendously, especially since
the focal length ring will also have to be accessed during
the shot by the camera operator. The camera can be moved
with a dolly, on tracks, with a Steadicam rig, and even handheld, but keep in mind that it will be more difficult to execute
the shot properly with a Steadicam or a handheld camera
than it will be with a dolly, because of the challenges to choreographing the independent movements of three people
(camera operator, focus puller and spotter) instead of hav152
ing them all standing on board a moving dolly. An alternative
is to use a wireless system to pull focus remotely while the
camera operator manipulates the zoom ring as he or she
walks with the camera, but it will still require a lot of practice
to do it properly. Regardless of how the camera is moved, it is
absolutely essential that the speed at which it moves closer
to or away from a subject matches the speed at which the
zoom ring is manipulated; otherwise, the subject will seem
to grow larger or smaller while the background moves closer
or farther away, undoing the effect of a dolly zoom. You will
need to do more than a few practice runs to get it right, since
you have to coordinate the efforts of the grips moving the
dolly, the camera operator manipulating the zoom ring, and
the focus puller.
lighting
Since the size of the subject must remain constant in a dolly
zoom shot, depth of field will mostly be a function of the aperture setting. Camera to subject distance will of course also
affect depth of field, but in most instances the dolly zoom
shot will not allow you to have the camera sufficiently far
away from the subject to throw the background in focus, so
its effect in the depth of field will be minimal. The disorienting effect of the dolly zoom can still be produced whether you
choose to have a shallow or a deep depth of field (since it is
more a function of the zoom ratio of the lens), so your selection can be based on your need to have the background, the
foreground, or everything in focus, depending on the needs
of your story.
breaking the rules
This shot, from Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996), has all the telltale signs of a dolly zoom shot: subject size remains constant,
and the background appears to recede into the distance. However, it is not a dolly zoom at all; the bed was simply rolled back
along with the camera inside a specially built set. The resulting effect is even more unsettling than in a normal dolly zoom, adding a surreal touch to the depiction of the withdrawal pangs suffered by Renton (Ewan McGregor), a heroin addict on the mend.
DOLLY ZOOM SHOT 153
The 400 Blows. François Truffaut, 1959.
154
tracking shot
tracking shot
In a tracking shot, the camera is moved to follow the movement of a subject along side it, in front of it (also called a reverse tracking shot, a Kubrick favorite), or behind it; because
of this, the movement in tracking shots is said to be motivated. People often confuse tracking shots with dolly shots,
but they are easy to tell apart, since in dolly shots the camera
is moved independently of a subject (an unmotivated type of
camera move), dollying towards or away from it, instead of
tracking with a moving subject. Tracking shots can be accomplished by placing the camera on a dolly with wheels, or
on tracks, with a Steadicam, inside a vehicle, or even handheld, depending on the amount and speed of the subject’s
movement. Although tracking shots can come in almost any
shot size, they are often taken using wider framings, such as
medium shots, medium long shots, and long shots, since
much of the dynamism of the composition is lost with tighter
framings that would exclude most of the surrounding area.
Tracking shots that move the camera sideways to follow a
subject (a very common setup) have more dynamic compositions than tracking shots where the camera follows from
behind or in front of a subject, since they emphasize movement along the x axis of the frame. Although less dynamic
because they show movement along the z axis of the frame,
reverse tracking shots have the advantage of letting the audience achieve a higher level of involvement with a character because they show the face of a subject from the front
instead of in profile. Sometimes, tracking shots are combined with zoom shots or dolly in shots, so that as they follow a character the framing gets increasingly tighter, from a
long shot or a medium long shot to a medium close up or a
close up. These combinations can add tension and drama to
a meaningful moment in a narrative, underlining the emo-
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50025-0
tions of a character at the end of the shot. Tracking shots
are also often long takes, especially when they are used to
establish a relationship between a character and the surrounding area; this is often the case with reverse tracking
shots, which tend to linger long enough to establish relevant
details about a location and a character’s reactions as he or
she moves through it.
A compelling use of a tracking shot is seen toward
the end of François Truffaut’s masterpiece The 400 Blows
(1959), the story of a neglected young Parisian adolescent,
Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), whose mischievous antics put him at odds with his family and eventually land him in
a reformatory. Earlier in the film, he expressed his desire to
see the ocean, having never seen it before; he soon manages
to escape from the institution, only to run aimlessly through
the countryside until he catches a glimpse of the coast. His
run to freedom is captured in a tracking shot that lasts almost 80 seconds (an eternity in terms of shot length), revealing an emotionless Antoine in a long shot that lets us see the
emptiness of his surroundings. The long take preserves the
action in real time, dramatizing his escape and the broader
impulse for flight (something Antoine does throughout the
film), making this a pivotal act within the narrative as it leads
the audience to one of the most famous freeze frames in the
history of cinema.
A tracking shot stays with Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) for
almost 80 seconds as he runs away from a reformatory in
François Truffaut’s marvelous examination of adolescent
psychology, The 400 Blows (1959).
TRACKING SHOT
155
tracking shot
why it works
Tracking shots can be combined with other moving camera
shots to further emphasize the importance of a moment in a
scene. In this example from Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right
One In (2008), the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant, pictured) a kid who is
constantly bullied at school, and Eli (Lina Leandersson), a
200 year old vampire who has remained physically a 12 year
old, a tracking shot is combined with a dolly in to underline
156
Oskar’s anguish as he is accosted by a classmate. The actor and the camera were blocked so that as the camera
tracks alongside him, it also gets closer to him, going from
a medium long shot to a medium close up. The bully (Patrik
Ridmark) is kept off-screen as Oskar retreats from him, entering the frame only as the tracking shot ends, conveying
Oskar’s increasing sense of dread and impotence.
The shot remains static until this character enters
the frame, motivating the movement of the camera. The framing at this stage of the tracking shot
is that of a medium long shot, including the character and much of the surrounding area.
While the camera is still, the audience has a
chance to see these two boys play fighting in the
background, foreshadowing the threat of violence
that pervades this scene and is a central concern
of the main character.
The inclusion of this column in the foreground adds
depth to the frame and emphasizes the movement of the tracking shot, since it travels across
the screen faster than the character in the middle
ground.
The headroom in this composition is correct for the
bully, but not for his victim in the foreground. Combined with the use of selective focus, this placement ensures the bully is the focal point of the
composition. As soon as he leaves, the camera tilts
up slightly to give the character in the foreground
the right amount of headroom.
Although this character was placed in the frame
according to the rule of thirds, he was not given
any room behind him, so that he is shown pressed
against the wall and the edge of the frame. This
placement underlines the helplessness and inescapability of his situation.
The shallow depth of field allows the use of selective focus, in this case set to the bully in the middle
ground instead of the main character in the foreground. This is an unconventional but effective
choice that lets the audience identify with the main
character by directing their attention to the cause
of his distress instead of his facial expressions.
The movement of the camera was set up so that it
travels diagonally as it tracks the character, creating an increasingly tighter frame that excludes
most of the surrounding area and culminates in a
medium close up, visually constricting the character.
TRACKING SHOT
157
technical considerations
lenses
If the tracking shot moves alongside a character, your choice
of focal length can have a major impact in the way movement across the x axis of the frame is perceived. For instance, if a telephoto lens is used, the field of view will be
restricted considerably as the distances along the z axis of
the frame are compressed. With this setup, even a relatively
small sideways move of the camera will appear faster than
normal, especially if a tighter framing (like a medium close
up) is used to cover the action. If a wide angle lens is used
instead, the field of view will be wider and distances along
the z axis extended, making the background look farther
away than it is in reality. Movement across the x axis will
also appear to be slower than normal, since the background
will not pass across the frame as quickly as when using a
telephoto lens. When performing a handheld tracking shot,
wide angle lenses and short camera to subject distances
are commonly used, since they hide camera shake considerably. Remember, telephoto lenses will exaggerate any camera movement, and are usually recommended only when
the camera is moved using a dolly, on tracks, with a vehicle,
or with some stabilizing device like a Steadicam. Focusing
can be problematic in a tracking shot, especially if a moving subject angles away from the camera, or when the shot
combines sideways movement with a dolly in or out move, as
seen in the example from Let the Right One In on the previous page. Since the camera to subject distance will not
remain constant in these cases, a focus puller will have to
assist to maintain sharp focus throughout the shot, after key
distances have been measured and the shot choreographed
and rehearsed a few times.
equipment
Using wheeled dollies can save a lot of time in the setup of
tracking shots provided the surface over which they need
158
to travel is even and smooth; otherwise, using a dolly that
moves over tracks is an option, but keep in mind that it might
take a long time to set the tracks up, especially if the terrain is very uneven. Other alternatives are to hand hold the
camera, or use a Steadicam system or some other device for
stabilization. It is important to remember that whenever the
camera is handheld, the distance between it and the subject
is likely to change throughout the shot, making it essential
to find a way to adjust focus during a shot. This can be accomplished with a wireless focus pulling system, a camera assistant/focus puller using a follow focus attachment
(although this is easier said than done), or by the camera
operator herself, focusing not by manipulating the focusing
ring on the lens, but by maintaining a constant camera to
subject distance with the help of a large preview monitor attached to their camera rig. Another option to maintain sharp
focus is to set up the tracking shot so that there is a relatively
long distance between the camera and the subject (as seen
in the example on the opposite page, from Florian Henckel
von Donnersmarck’s 2006 film, The Lives of Others), but doing this will necessarily affect the composition of your shot.
lighting
Lighting can also be manipulated to make it easier to keep
your subject in focus; for instance, you could add enough
lights so that you can use a smaller aperture on the lens that
gives you a deeper depth of field, allowing more room for
the camera operator to move without throwing the subject
out of focus. When shooting outdoors during the day, having
enough light will not be a problem, unless a shallow depth
of field is desired, which will require the use of a larger aperture on the lens. For this reason, any shooting done during the day outdoors should always include ND filtration, to
control how much light will reach your film. Some SD and HD
video cameras come equipped with ND filtration switches
precisely for this purpose.
breaking the rules
Tracking shots are motivated by the movement of characters in the frame, a convention designed to avoid camera movement
that calls attention to itself. In this tracking shot from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others (2006), the
camera follows Hauptmann Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), a former Stasi (East Germany’s secret police) officer, some years after the
fall of the Berlin wall. At one point during the tracking shot the camera stops, allowing him to leave the frame for a couple of
seconds. This seemingly unmotivated action by the camera is jarring and unexpected, creating a moment of tension that lasts
until the character steps back into the frame, as if suddenly realizing something; the shot ends as he stands in front of a large
poster advertising a book by a counterrevolutionary playwright he spied on yet chose to protect rather than arrest.
TRACKING SHOT
159
Goodfellas. Martin Scorsese, 1990.
160
Steadicam shot
Steadicam shot
While dollies on wheels and tracks can effectively create
smooth and expressive camera movement, their implementation can be difficult and limiting at times; for instance, no
dollies or tracks can be used to move a camera up or down
a set of stairs. Garret Brown’s invention of the Steadicam in
1976 solved this problem, adding a new kind of shot to the
cinematic vocabulary available to filmmakers: the Steadicam shot. A Steadicam rig involves the use of a special vest
with an articulated arm to which a camera is attached and
stabilized with a gimbal system; the rig effectively isolates
any shakiness caused by the movement of the operator,
allowing for almost unlimited freedom of movement (restricted solely by the endurance of the person wearing the
rig). Steadicam shots that use an actual Steadicam rig or a
similar stabilizing camera mount (from companies like MKV, Chrosziel, Glidecam, and Manfrotto, among others) can
replicate the moves of dolly shots and tracking shots, with
the added benefit of being able to also boom the camera up
and down or do a 360˚ shot around a character and any other
move in between. Steadicam shots are commonly reserved
for times when maintaining the integrity of time, space, and
the fluidity of movement are narratively meaningful to the
story; there should be a compelling reason why a particular
scene is covered, for instance, with a Steadicam shot instead
of using a combination of shots of various sizes. Sometimes,
a Steadicam shot will be used to preserve the unity of a performance by a character or characters in a single take, reframing the composition of the shot as needed to increase
the involvement of the audience or to underline a particular
aspect of the scene. The preservation of real time heightens
the tension and generates the anticipation that anything can
happen, since there are no edits to signal to the audience
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50026-2
something particularly meaningful is taking place. In some
cases, the fluidity and smoothness of the camera movement
is integral to the narrative point of the shot, commenting on
the action that is being presented. The freedom of movement
that these shots allow are also used to give the viewer a feeling that they are there, amongst the action and activity in
the scene. Like most moving camera shots, Steadicam shots
tend to be motivated by the movement of a character, and
are therefore meant to feel organic to the flow of a scene.
A brilliant example of a Steadicam shot can be seen
in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), when Henry Hill
(Ray Liotta), an up and coming gangster, takes his girlfriend
Karen (Lorraine Bracco) out for dinner. In a virtuosic Steadicam shot, we follow them as they enter a popular restaurant
through a side door, bypassing a large crowd waiting in line
to get in. After a labyrinthine walk through hallways and a
hectic kitchen, they make their way into the main seating
area, bypassing another line of patrons waiting impatiently
to be seated. Finally, they are promptly given a table right
next to the stage, as Henry tips everyone from bouncers to
waiters. The use of a single Steadicam shot to cover this sequence (instead of using a series of shots or various sizes)
allows the audience to tag along with the couple, letting them
experience the privilege and status that comes with living life
as a “goodfella.”
The fluidity and smoothness of this Steadicam shot is used
to let the audience experience what it is like to enjoy the special perks of being a “goodfella” in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990).
STEADICAM SHOT 161
Steadicam shot
why it works
The Steadicam shot can be used to maintain the unity of an
actor’s performance in real time while also reframing to create dramatic emphasis, heightening tension and allowing
the audience to connect with a scene. In this riveting example from Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton (2007), a single Steadicam shot is used to maximum effect, becoming at times
a two shot, a medium close up, an O.T.S. shot, a long shot,
a close up, and finally a medium shot, as we follow two ter-
162
rifyingly efficient killers for hire (Terry Serpico and Robert
Prescott) while they murder a litigator for a chemical company who decided to sabotage the case against them (Tom
Wilkinson). The use of a single Steadicam shot, instead of a
series of shots edited together for dramatic effect, highlights
the killers’ swift efficiency and suggests they have done this
many times before.
A tight framing was used at the beginning of the
shot to exclude a lot of off-screen space, allowing
one killer to enter the frame suddenly, even though
he was only a couple of feet away. From this moment forward, the Steadicam operator will reframe
the composition to let the audience see relevant
details and to add dramatic emphasis to the scene.
The various compositions needed from this Steadicam shot made it imperative to carefully choreograph the action beforehand, so that focus could be
maintained on the various subjects. At this stage
of the shot, for instance, the camera was focused
on the subjects in the foreground, evidenced by the
blurry background.
Keeping proper headroom in a moving shot can be
challenging, especially when the action includes
sudden movements. Steadicam operators need to
be experts at constantly predicting subject movement and assessing the composition of the frame,
in addition to carrying the rig and using their peripheral vision to move safely through a location.
Although upside down, the subject was placed in
the frame according to the rule of thirds, in this
case over the bottom left sweet spot; the diagonal
placement of the body across the frame reinforces
this placement by leading the viewer’s gaze toward
his face, the focal point of this composition.
As the camera reframed the subject for this composition, focus had to be adjusted to make sure
his face would be sharp. Compare this shallower
depth of field with the deep depth of field in the
fourth frame on the opposite page, when the Steadicam shot was reframed into a long shot.
STEADICAM SHOT
163
technical considerations
lenses
equipment
Unlike a handheld shot, a stabilizing rig does not necessitate the use of a wide angle lens to hide camera shake. Your
focal length choice can be dictated by your need to have a
particular field of view, or to make the background appear
closer or farther away from a subject, or to manipulate the
perception of movement as the camera travels. In a static
composition, it is relatively easy to gauge what focal length
will best fit your needs; the dynamic frame of a moving shot,
however, will present you with many compositional possibilities depending on the lens you pick. For instance, if the
Steadicam shot will include a lot of movement along the z
axis, you might want to exaggerate the distance covered by
the camera by using a wide angle lens, making objects or
characters coming toward or away from the lens appear to
swish by. Alternatively, you might want to make it look as if
a character is hardly moving along the z axis at all, and use
a telephoto lens that compresses these distances instead.
These spatial distortions can also produce a very distinctive
effect when using the camera at a low or high angle, as seen
in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), where a wide angle
lens was used to make the walls of a hedge maze appear
much taller than they actually were. Another important consideration when choosing a lens for a Steadicam shot is the
minimum focusing distance you need to have between camera and subject. For instance, you might want to maintain
a constant composition that includes the camera following
very close behind or in front of a moving subject, necessitating the use of a shorter focal length lens that will allow a very
close camera to subject distance (also making it possible to
blur the background). Conversely, a longer focal length will
have a longer minimum focusing distance, forcing you to
keep the camera farther back from the subject (making it
more difficult to blur the background).
While the Steadicam has become synonymous with the use
of stabilized shots, there are a number of solutions available
for virtually every format of film and video cameras. However, only higher-end solutions will give you more options to
set up the camera (for instance, to place the camera close
to the ground, or provide you with enough support to let you
operate heavier cameras for longer periods of time). The use
of large preview monitors to let operators gauge the composition and focus of the shot at a glance is imperative, since
they will also have to use their peripheral vision or a spotter
(an assistant that guides the operator, especially when walking backwards) to safely walk or even run while shooting; the
flip-out LCD screens found in most SD and HD video cameras are simply not large enough for this purpose.
164
lighting
Dynamic camera shots always present a challenge for the
Director of Photography, because a moving camera will
make it extremely difficult or even impossible to hide movie lights in a location. One strategy is to carefully choreograph the path of the camera to avoid showing lights, but
doing this will add another level of difficulty to an already
demanding shot. Another strategy is to light the entire location with practicals (lights that are part of the mise en scène)
relamped with higher-wattage bulbs. The movement of actors is then blocked so that they will be lit by these lights,
allowing the camera to move more freely. Lighting also plays
a critical role in controlling depth of field; this is especially
important in a Steadicam shot because focus is often accomplished by the operator maintaining a constant camera
to subject distance. If the depth of field is too shallow, it is
more difficult to keep the subject consistently within the area
of sharp focus, which might be exactly what you want as part
of a visual strategy you could design for your film.
breaking the rules
The movement of Steadicam shots is often motivated by the movement of a subject, since unmotivated camera movement can
be confused as being a subjective shot from an unseen observer. Several key Steadicam shots in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal
Jacket (1987) blur this distinction, by placing the camera low to the ground and behind Marines as they enter dangerous areas
in this film about the dehumanizing effects of war; these shots effectively place audiences in the middle of the action, as if they
were Marines themselves.
STEADICAM SHOT 165
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ang Lee, 2000.
166
crane shot
crane shot
In a crane shot, the camera is mounted on a support that can
be an actual crane, a jib arm, a cherry picker, or any other
device that will allow the camera to be moved vertically, horizontally, or in a combination of both. The typical crane shot,
however, emphasizes a vertical move of the camera that can
encompass anywhere from just a few feet all the way up to
more than one hundred feet in height. Although there are
many variations, crane shots are most commonly used to
gradually reveal the grand scale of a location or environment
as the camera is moved upward, including more details as
the camera’s vantage point gets higher. This type of crane
shot can work essentially as an establishing shot, edited at
the beginning of a scene or whenever a key location is introduced. The same crane move is also often used to gradually
change the framing from a tight shot of a character to a wide
shot of a location as the character recedes into the distance,
usually at the end of a key scene or even the end of a film.
Another extremely common crane shot essentially reverses
this move, starting with a long or even an extreme long shot
that includes a large area of a location that then moves downward into a tighter framing of a character, isolating her in
the composition. The upward or downward movement of the
camera in a crane shot can be made more apparent if there
are objects in the foreground of the composition that pass
by it as it is moved. These foreground elements might not be
necessary if the crane shot elevates the camera significantly,
since the change in vantage point will be very apparent in
those cases; however, if the crane shot elevates the camera
only a few feet and the subject is relatively distant from it,
the move might go completely unnoticed unless something
passes by the camera in the foreground of the composition.
Crane shots can also be combined with other types of cam© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50027-4
era movement, by incorporating the use of dollies or other
types of moving platforms that can add a great level of complexity to a shot (most notably in sequence shots). The use
of a crane shot to introduce a location, a character, or to underline a key event, will make a powerful narrative statement
that can convey there is something especially meaningful or
relevant taking place, since the shift in the composition is
accompanied by a shift in our understanding of the narrative
meaning of the shot; its use should therefore be reserved
only for those moments in your story where you want that
shift in the minds of the audience to take place.
A classic use of a crane shot occurs in Ang Lee’s
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), during an extended flashback sequence where Jiao Long Yu (Zhang Zi-Yi), a
member of an aristocratic family with a secret passion for
martial arts, meets Lo “Dark Cloud” (Cheng Chang), the
leader of a gang of desert bandits who ends up falling for her.
Lo is introduced with a crane shot that gradually reveals him
and his gang, combined with a tilting move of the camera
that dramatically changes the vantage point from a low angle
to a high angle. The visual emphasis conveyed by the use of
a crane shot to introduce this character clearly suggests his
importance in the story, and the fact that this territory is his
domain. This use is a common technique designed to make
a vivid first impression in the minds of the audience.
Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) uses a
crane shot to dramatically reveal a gang of desert bandits
and their leader, Lo (Cheng Chang).
CRANE SHOT 167
crane shot
why it works
In addition to introducing narratively important locations
or characters, crane shots can, like other dynamic camera
moves, also underline especially poignant moments. In Jane
Campion’s The Piano (1993), a crane shot is used when Ada
(Holly Hunter), a mute Scottish woman who moves to New
168
Zealand as part of an arranged marriage, decides to obey
her husband and give piano lessons to the man who has her
beloved piano so she can get it back. The dramatic emphasis
conveyed by a descending crane shot externalizes the emotional turmoil caused by her decision to act against her will.
The camera is tilted down at the beginning of the
crane shot, producing a high angle, nearly overhead view of the subjects and the immediate area.
As the crane shot continues, the camera will be
tilted up and panned slightly to frame the main
subject into a medium close up from a more neutral angle. The combination of a crane shot, with
a tilt, and a pan makes this rather small camera
move more dramatic than if it were just a crane
shot.
The camera to subject distance and aperture combination produced a depth of field that kept both
subjects and the surrounding area in sharp focus.
As the crane shot lowers the camera, the distance
to the main subject becomes shorter, creating a
shallow depth of field that centers the audience’s
attention on her.
The placement of subjects at the beginning of the
crane shot does not follow the rule of thirds, using
an unorthodox framing instead that emphasizes
the visual conflict between Victorian manners and
the exuberance of the New Zealand jungle.
At the end of the crane shot, the camera was tilted
up into a less severe high angle and slightly panned
to frame this subject into a conventional medium
close up that follows the rule of thirds, giving her
the proper headroom and looking room for a shot
this size.
The much shorter camera to subject distance required the lens to be refocused to the main subject. When using a crane, this is commonly accomplished with the use of remote heads that allow an
operator to manipulate the focus, panning, tilting,
and zooming from a distance.
Note the use of an eyelight to avoid giving her eyes
a “dead gaze,” as well as the diffused light over her
face to soften the shadows in this otherwise sunny
day, as seen in the background.
CRANE SHOT
169
technical considerations
lenses
Your choice of focal length will of course depend on the type
of crane shot, the blocking of the subjects within the composition, and the narrative point you are trying to make. For
instance, a crane shot that gradually expands the frame as
it elevates the camera to include a large area of a location (a
common use of a crane shot to end a scene) would benefit
from the use of a wide angle lens, since its wide field of view
would let you include more of the location than if you used
a telephoto lens. Conversely, a crane shot that emphasizes
the upward movement of the camera by including elements
in the foreground will appear to move faster when using a
telephoto lens instead of a wide angle lens, because of the
way they tend to distort movement along the x and y axes of
the frame. Other variables that should influence your choice
of focal length could include the amount of distortion you
might want to add or exclude at some point in the crane shot.
For instance, in the example from Campion’s The Piano on
the previous page, the crane shot ends with a medium close
up of a subject that would look significantly different if a wide
angle or a telephoto lens had been used, since they would
have distorted her features. Since crane shots can encompass a complex set of camera and subject movement, keep
in mind that your choice of focal length can potentially work
against the point of your shot if you ignore how it affects field
of view and movement across all axes of the frame.
equipment
As with all dynamic camera moves, even the simplest crane
shot will require extra time to set up, choreograph, and
shoot; you should always account for this when planning
your production schedule. There are over a hundred different models of cranes available for film and video production, anywhere from a jib arm that attaches to a tripod letting
you elevate and lower the camera just a few feet, to large
170
8000 pound cranes that require at least two operators, and
let you raise the camera over 100 feet. Other options include
telescopic cranes, cranes with articulated arms, cranes that
can suspend a Steadicam operator, motorized cranes that
can cruise at highway speeds, and cranes that can support
the weight of a large camera and two operators on a platform. One thing to keep in mind is that unless the crane can
support an operator in addition to the camera, you will need
some way to preview the frame as the crane shot is executed. This is accomplished with the use of a preview monitor
attached at the end of the arm, letting the operator see the
framing of the shot. However, this setup will not allow you
to control focusing, zooming, panning, or tilting, unless the
crane comes equipped with a motorized remote head to access these features. It is also extremely important to always
remember that regardless of the crane type you are using,
you must take extra safety precautions on the set (like never
allowing anyone to walk under a crane, only letting qualified
personnel operate it, never exceeding its weight and movement restrictions, making cast and crew aware of the movement that will be executed, and being aware of overhead
power lines in the immediate area).
lighting
If the crane shot is taken outdoors during the day and a character is an integral part of the shot, lighting considerations
will involve finding a way to diffuse the sunlight over her in a
way that does not interfere with the rising or lowering movement of the camera, which might be difficult to do depending
on the angle of incidence of the light. Crane shots taken on
night exteriors can also present you with same problems you
will encounter when taking long or extreme long shots under the same conditions; you will have to use powerful lights
positioned at a high vantage point that can cover a wide area,
or find a location with enough available light for this purpose.
breaking the rules
Crane shots are often combined with other camera moves (like pans and tilts) to augment the dramatic impact of a meaningful
moment in a narrative. This example from Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) adds even more complexity by
also seamlessly incorporating a zoom out, a dolly out, and a tilt of the camera to a crane shot as it pulls back to reveal the sadistic killing of a man. Throughout the film, we followed “Harmonica” (Charles Bronson) as he relentlessly tracked down Frank
(Henry Fonda), the leader of gang of ruthless killers, without knowing his motives. During their final showdown, Frank (and
the audience) finally learns that years ago he had viciously killed Harmonica’s brother, during a flashback that uses a complex
crane shot to convey the momentous significance of this event.
CRANE SHOT 171
Touch of Evil. Orson Welles, 1958.
172
sequence shot
sequence shot
Sequence shots are among the most complex, difficult, and
ultimately rewarding shots you can attempt. The term comes
originally from the literal translation of the French “planséquence,” and refers to a shot that incorporates a sophisticated set of dynamic camera moves and framing over a long
take, very often encompassing action from several scenes
that would otherwise be covered with a number of separate
shots. Sequence shots make an unmistakably powerful narrative statement about the importance of the action they
cover and the spatial and temporal relationships between
elements in the shot, and therefore they are often used to
showcase a crucial set of events that are pivotal to the understanding of the rest of the film. Sequence shots can include crane shots, dolly shots, zoom shots, handheld shots,
panning, tilting, tracking shots, and Steadicam shots, often
combined seamlessly to create a dynamic frame that can
go anywhere from an extreme close up to an extreme long
shot. Camera movement in sequence shots is often motivated by the movement of characters, although unmotivated
camera movement is also used, exclusively or in combination with motivated movement. Since sequence shots always
use long takes (shots that can last anywhere from a minute
to well over an hour, depending on the shooting format), they
preserve real time, space, and the performance of actors,
and can add realism, tension, and dramatic emphasis to a
scene. However, this real time aspect does not automatically
connote realism, as these shots are frequently stylistically
virtuosic and very apparent to audiences. Because of the
complexity of sequence shots, filmmakers have found ways
to cheat, creating what appear to be extended sequence
shots that are in fact a number of separate, mini-sequence
shots with their edits concealed. This is often accomplished
© 2011 Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/B978-0-240-81217-5.50028-6
by cutting between two shots while the frame is completely filled with a nondescript image, like an blank wall or the
shadow of a character as she passes in front of the camera,
a technique used most famously in Alfred Hitchcock’s film
Rope (1948). More recently, the advent of computer generated imagery, or CGI, has made it possible to conceal edits
more effectively, making them virtually impossible to detect.
One of the most famous examples of a sequence shot
happens during the opening scene in Orson Welles’ Touch of
Evil (1958). The shot begins with a close up of a homemade
explosive, which is placed in the trunk of a car that later gets
driven by a couple on their way to the United States-Mexico border. Their car crosses paths with a newlywed couple
(Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh) also on their way to the
border, whose romantic interlude is interrupted by the explosion of the car. This entire set of events is astoundingly
and flawlessly covered with a single three-minute sequence
shot (accomplished with the use of a camera mounted on
a crane in the back of a truck) that lets the action unfold in
real time, amplifying the suspense and tension set up at the
beginning of the shot when the explosive’s timer was set.
The intricate camera movement also introduces the border
area in a way that is suggestive of the tangled moral, ethical,
legal, and cultural clashes that will occur there afterward,
one of the key themes explored in this film.
This legendary sequence shot from the opening scene of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958) allows the action to unfold
in real time, gradually intensifying the suspense and tension
initially introduced when an explosive device on a timer is
shown being triggered at the beginning of the shot.
SEQUENCE SHOT 173
sequence shot
why it works
Sequence shots can make a powerful narrative statement
that showcases a pivotal and extended set of events, preserving the integrity of time, space, and performance in the
process. This crucial scene from Juan José Campanella’s
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) does just that, in an amazing sequence shot (actually seven shots seamlessly merged
with the aid of CGI) that begins high above a soccer stadium,
174
glides above the crowds and follows federal justice agents
Benjamin and Pablo (Ricardo Darín and Guillermo Francella)
as they chase after a murder suspect (Javier Godino, pictured) through the bowels of the stadium, ending with his
arrest on the playing field. The extreme dramatic emphasis
conveyed by the sequence shot underlines the importance
his capture represents and all but confirms his guilt.
The sequence shot begins with a helicopter shot
that reveals a soccer stadium while a match is in
progress. This dramatic reveal is narratively justified by the agents’ previous discovery that their
suspect is a passionate soccer fan and would never
miss a game of his favorite team.
This section of the sequence shot would lose much
of its visual impact if the stadium were surrounded by brightly lit buildings. Instead, the darkness
around the stadium makes its brightly lit interior
stand out in the composition.
The sequence shot uses a dynamic framing that
shifts the composition from an extreme long shot,
taken from hundreds of feet into the air, to a medium close up only a few inches from the ground.
This seemingly impossible feat was accomplished
by seamlessly blending seven separate shots with
the aid of CGI.
Subject placement follows the rule of thirds, placing him over the top right sweet spot of the frame.
This ensures a dynamic composition with the proper amount of headroom and looking room, even in
this extremely canted shot.
The camera to subject distance and large aperture
combination used in this shot resulted in a shallow depth of field that effectively isolates him in
the composition, reflecting his stressful emotional
state as he is being arrested.
The use of an extremely canted camera (almost a
full 90 degrees) at the end of the sequence shot
is suggestive of this character’s abnormal psychology, even though only the background is off kilter.
Although this subject is supposed to be lit only
by the stadium’s available light, his lighting was
tweaked so that it matches the dramatic tone of
this scene, using light sources of different intensities instead of the flat, even lighting of a professional sports arena.
SEQUENCE SHOT
175
technical considerations
lenses
The complexity of the sequence shot will dictate the appropriate focal length(s) or even the kind of lens that will work
best for the job. Some factors to consider are: the variety of
shot sizes you will be attempting, the field of view necessary at every stage of the shot, the type of camera or subject movement that needs to be emphasized or understated,
the minimum camera to subject distance the shot requires,
whether a zoom lens will be needed to expand the dynamic
frame choices, the need to have a specific maximum aperture, and many other variables. In Welles’ Touch of Evil, the
use of a relatively wide angle lens elongated distances and
exaggerated movement along the z axis of the frame, added some optical distortion to the architecture of the border
town, and produced a wide field of view that allowed the inclusion of much of the richly detailed mise en scène. These
qualities reflect the importance the border town plays in the
story and present it as a labyrinthine, sleazy, and sinister
place, filled with moral and ethical ambiguities. While this
example represents a perfect incorporation of visual style
and theme, the technical requirements of a sequence shot
will sometimes override your desire to use a particular focal
length. The same sequence shot, for instance, would have
been nearly impossible to shoot with a telephoto lens and a
shallow depth of field.
equipment
Sequence shots can require virtually any kind of equipment
designed to create a free-flowing dynamic camera move, including cranes, jibs, dollies, vehicles, helicopters, Steadicam
rigs, and even a handheld camera. While all dynamic camera
moves require extra time to light and to coordinate equipment, crew, resources, and cast, the unique technical requirements of a sequence shot simply cannot be overstated.
In fact, it is entirely possible for a sequence shot to take up
176
an entire day of shooting or more, depending on the level of
complexity it entails; for instance, it took Michelangelo Antonioni 11 days to shoot a 7-minute sequence shot for his film
The Passenger (1975).
lighting
The strategies for lighting a sequence shot are not too dissimilar from the ones used for Steadicam shots and other
dynamic camera moves that cover a single wide area or numerous distinct spaces. If shooting night interiors, the use of
practicals (sources of light visible within the frame that are
part of the mise en scène) can be extremely helpful, since a
roaming camera is likely to prevent you from placing movie lights where you normally would. In some cases, a crew
member is enlisted to travel alongside the camera with a
portable light source to provide sufficient and constant exposure to a moving subject, although this raises the level
of complexity of an already technically demanding shot. Day
interiors can be lit using only motivated light coming through
windows, allowing the camera to travel freely without worrying about the placement of lights within the location. Night
exteriors, as always, present a formidable challenge unless
you have access to large lighting fixtures that can be raised
high enough to pass for moonlight, even though it would never be that bright in real life. Another option would be finding
a location with enough available light so that very few additional lights, if any, would be needed (as seen in the sequence shot example from Campanella’s The Secret in Their
Eyes). More often than not, it will be extremely hard or even
impossible to have perfect lighting throughout an entire sequence shot, so you should decide beforehand what the key
moments are so that you can choreograph and light them
accordingly.
breaking the rules
It is impossible to overstate the spectacular achievement accomplished in Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian Ark (2006), a film that
uses a single, 91-minute Steadicam sequence shot to transport the audience through 300 years of Russian history as they
explore the Hermitage Museum. This shot incorporates virtually every type of shot described in this book, and it was made possible thanks to the use of a Steadicam and a portable hard drive recording system.
SEQUENCE SHOT 177
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filmography
3 Monkeys. Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan.Zeyno Film, 2008.
The 400 Blows. Dir. François Truffaut. Les Films du Carrosse, 1959.
Amélie. Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Claudie Ossard Productions, 2001.
Apocalypto. Dir. Mel Gibson. Icon Entertainment International, 2006.
The Baader Meinhof Complex. Dir. Uli Edel. Constantin Film Produktion, 2008.
Bad Boy Bubby. Dir. Rolf de Heer. Australian Film Finance Corporation, 1993.
Barry Lyndon. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Peregrine, 1975.
Being John Malkovich. Dir. Spike Jonze. Gramercy Pictures, 1999.
Being There. Dir. Hal Ashby. Lorimar Film Entertainment, 1979.
The Blair Witch Project. Dirs. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. Haxan Films, 1999.
Blue Velvet. Dir. David Lynch. De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1986.
The Bourne Supremacy. Dir. Paul Greengrass. Universal Pictures, 2004.
Brazil. Dir. Terry Gilliam. Embassy International Pictures, 1985.
Broken Embraces. Dir. Pedro Almodóvar. Universal Pictures International, 2009.
Children of Men. Dir. Alfonso Cuarón. Universal Pictures, 2006.
City of God. Dirs. Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund. O2 Filmes, 2002.
Clockers. Dir. Spike Lee. 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, 1995.
The Conversation. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. American Zoetrope, 1974.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Dir. Ang Lee. Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, 2000.
Die Hard. Dir. John McTiernan. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1988.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Dir. Julian Schnabel. Pathé Renn Productions, 2007.
Dogville. Dir. Lars von Trier. Zentropa Entertainments, 2003.
The Elephant Man. Dir. David Lynch. Brooksfilms, 1980.
Exiled. Dir. Johnnie To. Media Asia Films, 2006.
Fallen Angels. Dir. Kar Wai Wong. Jet Tone Production, 1995.
Full Metal Jacket. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1987.
Gattaca. Dir. Andrew Niccol. Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1997.
The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Paramount Pictures, 1972.
Gomorrah. Dir. Matteo Garrone. Fandango, 2008.
Goodfellas. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1990.
The Graduate. Dir. Mike Nichols. Embassy Pictures Corporation, 1967.
FILMOGRAPHY
179
Hero. Dir. Yimou Zhang. Elite Group Enterprises, 2002.
Hidden. Dir. Michael Haneke. Les Films du Losange, 2005.
Hot Fuzz. Dir. Edgar Wright. Working Title Films, 2007.
I am Legend. Dir. Francis Lawrence. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007.
In Bruges. Dir. Martin McDonagh. Focus Features, 2008.
Inglourious Basterds. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Universal Pictures, 2009.
Into the Wild. Dir. Sean Penn. Paramount Vantage, 2007.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Dir. Chantal Akerman. Paradise Films, 1975.
Kagemusha. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Toho Company, 1980.
La Haine. Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz. Canal+, 1995.
Last Year at Marienbad. Dir. Alain Resnais. Cocinor, 1961.
Leon: The Professional. Dir. Luc Besson. Gaumont, 1994.
Let the Right One In. Dir. Tomas Alfredson. EFTI, 2008.
The Lives of Others. Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion, 2006.
The Marriage of Maria Braun. Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Albatros Filmproduktion, 1979.
The Matrix Reloaded. Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2003.
Memories of Murder. Dir. Joon-ho Bong. CJ Entertainment, 2003.
Michael Clayton. Dir. Tony Gilroy. Samuels Media, 2007.
Misery. Dir. Rob Reiner. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1990.
Mystery Train. Dir. Jim Jarmusch. JVC Entertainment Networks, 1989.
Naked. Dir. Mike Leigh. Thin Man Films, 1993.
Nineteen Eighty-Four. Dir. Michael Radford. Umbrella-Rosenblum Films Production, 1984.
Oldboy. Dir. Chan-wook Park. Show East, 2003.
Once Upon a Time in the West. Dir. Sergio Leone. Paramount Pictures, 1968.
Paris, Texas. Dir. Wim Wenders. Road Movies Filmproduktion, 1984.
The Passenger. Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni. Compagnia Cinematografica Champion, 1975.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Dir. Tom Tykwer. Constantin Film Produktion, 2006.
The Piano. Dir. Jane Campion. CiBy 2000, 1993.
The Proposition. Dir. John Hillcoat. UK Film Council, 2005.
Pulp Fiction. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. A Band Apart, 1994.
Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Paramount Pictures, 1981.
180
Raise the Red Lantern. Dir. Yimou Zhang. Century Communications, 1991.
Ratcatcher. Dir. Lynne Ramsay. Pathé Pictures International, 1999.
Reconstruction. Dir. Christoffer Boe. HR. Boe & Co., 2003.
Requiem for a Dream. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Artisan Entertainment, 2000.
Reservoir Dogs. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Live Entertainment, 1992.
The Rock. Dir. Michael Bay. Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, 1996.
Rocky. Dir. John G. Avildsen. United Artists, 1976.
Rope. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1948.
The Royal Tenenbaums. Dir. Wes Anderson. Touchstone Pictures, 2001.
Russian Ark. Dir. Aleksandr Sokurov. The Hermitage Bridge Studio, 2002.
The Secret in Their Eyes. Dir. Juan José Campanella. Tornasol Films, 2009.
Seopyeonje. Dir. Kwon-taek Im. Taehung Pictures, 1993.
Sex and Lucia. Dir. Julio Medem. Alicia Produce, 2001.
The Shawshank Redemption. Dir. Frank Darabont. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1994.
The Shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1980.
Sid and Nancy. Dir. Alex Cox. Zenith Entertainment, 1986.
The Silence of the Lambs. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Orion Pictures Corporation, 1991.
Solaris. Dir. Steven Soderbergh. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 2002.
The Soloist. Dir. Joe Wright. DreamWorks SKG, 2009.
Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. Lucasfilm, 1977.
Taking Lives. Dir. D.J. Caruso. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2004.
Thelma & Louise. Dir. Ridley Scott. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1991.
The Thin Red Line. Dir. Terrence Malick. Phoenix Pictures, 1998.
Touch of Evil. Dir. Orson Welles. Universal International Pictures, 1958.
Trainspotting. Dir. Danny Boyle. Channel Four Films, 1996.
The Truman Show. Dir. Peter Weir. Paramount Pictures, 1998.
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FILMOGRAPHY
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index
3 Monkeys (2008), 36–37
16mm film format
overview, 16-17
using for group shots, 98
using for long shots, 62
24p (progressive frame rate), 18
35mm blow up, 86
35mm film format, 17
35mm lens adapter kits
for close up shots, 38
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for macro shots, 122
for medium close ups, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 17-18
for two shots, 92
for zoom shots, 128
180° line, 11-12, 71
The 400 Blows (1959), 154, 155
Amélie (2001), 40, 41
American shots, 53
Anderson, Wes, 46, 47
angles, 9
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 176
aperture
and canted shots, 104
fast versus slow lenses, 13-14
overview, 13
Apocalypto (2006), 15, 100, 101, 104
Aronofsky, Darren, 118, 119
Ashby, Hal, 106, 107
aspect ratios
overview, 6
in tilt shots, 140
asymmetry
in emblematic shots, 107
in extreme long shots, 65
attachments, follow focus, 10, 158,
152
Avildsen, John G., 3
axes, frame, 6. See also x axis; z axis
A
abstract shots, 112–117
breaking the rules, 117
extreme close ups, 29
overview, 112–113
technical considerations, 116
use of, 114–115
using tilt shots with, 137
adapter kits. See also 35mm lens
adapter kits
HD camera lens, 17
SD camera lens, 17
Akerman, Chantal, 51
Alfredson, Tomas, 156–157
Almodovar, Pedro, 132–133
B
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008),
11
backlights
for close up shots, 38
for long shots, 61
for medium shots, 50
Bad Boy Bubby (1993), 11
balanced compositions
in emblematic shots, 107
in extreme long shots, 65
in group shots, 95
in medium long shots, 53
overview, 8
barreling effect, 12
Barry Lyndon (1975), 13
Bay, Michael, 10
Being John Malkovich (1999), 87
Being There (1979), 106, 107
Besson, Luc, 52, 53
The Blair Witch Project (1999), 19
Blue Velvet (1986), 29
Boe, Christoffer, 117
Bong, Joon-ho, 57
The Bourne Supremacy (2004), 126–
127
Boyle, Danny, 153
Brazil (1985), 99
Broken Embraces (2009), 132–133
butterflies
for medium close up shots, 43, 44
for medium long shots, 56
C
camera to subject distance
in canted shots, 103
in crane shots, 169
in dolly shots, 145
in dolly zoom shots, 152
in emblematic shots, 110
in extreme long shots, 65, 68
in group shots, 98
in long shots, 62
in macro shots, 122
in medium close ups, 41, 44
in medium long shots, 55
in medium shots, 50
in O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 16
in pan shots, 133
in sequence shots, 176
in tracking shots, 158
in zoom shots, 127
INDEX
183
Campanella, Juan José, 174–175
Campion, Jane, 168–169, 170
canted shots, 100–105
breaking the rules, 105
overview, 100–101
in sequence shots, 175
technical considerations, 104
use of, 102–103
Caruso, D.J., 148, 149
CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors
and canted shots, 104
and emblematic shots, 110
and extreme close ups, 32
and group shots, 98
and macro shots, 122
and medium close ups, 44
and medium shots, 50
and O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 16-17
and two shots, 92
and zoom shots, 128
Ceylan, Nuri Bilge, 36–37
charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors.
See CCD sensors
Children of Men (2006), 78–79
City of God (2002), 68, 94, 95
clinometer, 80
Clockers (1995), 32–33
close up shots, 34–39
breaking the rules, 39
versus extreme close ups, 29
and macro shots, 119
versus medium close ups, 41
O.T.S. shots, 71
overview, 34–35
technical considerations, 38
use of, 36–37
using extreme long shots with, 65
184
using long shots with, 59
using with dolly zoom shots, 152
closed frames, 10-11, 61
color, use of, 133
composition, principles of, 6–19
35mm lens adapter kits, 17-18
aspect ratios, 6
balanced/unbalanced
compositions, 8
camera to subject distance, 16
closed frames and open frames,
10-11
depth cues, 9–10
depth of field, 15-16
director’s viewfinders, 19
fast versus slow lenses, 13-14
field of view, 12
focal length, 12
focal points, 11
frame axes, 6
HD video, 18-19
high and low angles, 9
Hitchcock’s rule, 7–8
Neutral Density filtration, 16
normal lenses, 13
prime lenses, 14
rule of thirds, 7
SD video, 18-19
shooting formats, 16-17
specialized lenses, 14-15
telephoto lenses, 13
wide angle lenses, 12
zoom lenses, 14
continuity, lighting, 38
contra zoom shots, 148–153
The Conversation (1974), 124, 125
Coppola, Francis Ford, 2–3, 124, 125
core ideas of story, 22
counter zoom shots, 148–153
Cox, Alex, 58, 59
crane shots, 166–171
breaking the rules, 171
overview, 166–167
technical considerations, 170
use of, 168–169
cranes, types of, 170
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(2000), 166, 167
Cuarón, Alfonso, 78–79
D
Darabont, Frank, 72–73
day for night shots, 68
de Heer, Rolf, 11
De Palma, Brian, 14
dead gaze, 38, 169
deep depth of field
and close ups, 35
in dolly shots, 145
in emblematic shots, 109, 110
in medium long shots, 56
overview, 15–16
in tilt shots, 140
in two shots, 91
Demme, Jonathan, 82, 83, 111
depth cues
in establishing shots, 79
in group shots, 95, 97
overview, 9–10
depth of field
See also deep depth of field;
shallow depth of field
in canted shots, 104
in dolly zoom shots, 152
in establishing shots, 80
and extreme close ups, 31
in extreme long shots, 65, 68
in long shots, 62
in macro shots, 122
in medium long shots, 55
in medium shots, 50
O.T.S. shots, 73
overview, 15–16
in pan shots, 134
in sequence shots, 176
in Steadicam shots, 163
Deutsch angle, 101
Die Hard (1988), 102–103, 104
diffused lighting
in crane shots, 169
in dolly shots, 145
for macro shots, 122
for medium close up shots, 44
director’s viewfinders
overview, 19
using for Steadicam shots, 164
dirty single, 70–75
distancing effect, 81
distortion
in canted shots, 103
in crane shots, 170
in dolly zoom shots, 151
in extreme long shots, 67
in medium close ups, 44
in subjective shots, 85
with telephoto lenses, 13
with wide angle lenses, 12
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
(2007), 84–85
Dogville (2003), 81
dollies, 158
dolly shots, 142–147
breaking the rules, 147
combining tracking shots with, 155
overview, 142–143
technical considerations, 146
versus tracking shots, 155
use of, 144–145
using Steadicams, 161
versus zoom shots, 125
dolly zoom shots, 148–153
breaking the rules, 153
overview, 148–149
technical considerations, 152
use of, 150–151
doorway dolly, 146
dusk for night shots, 68, 80, 86
dutch angle, 101
E
Edel, Uli, 11
The Elephant Man (1980), 129
emblematic shots, 106–111
breaking the rules, 111
extreme long shots, 65
overview, 106–107
technical considerations, 110
two shot as, 93
use of, 108–109
using long shots for, 59
using medium long shots with, 53
equipment
for canted shots, 104
for crane shots, 170
for dolly shots, 146
for dolly zoom shots, 152
for pan shots, 134
for sequence shots, 176
for Steadicam shots, 164
for tilt shots, 140
for tracking shots, 158
establishing shots, 76–81
breaking the rules, 81
extreme long shots, 65
long shots, 59
overview, 76–77
technical considerations, 80
use of, 78–79
using crane shots for, 167
using tilt shots with, 137
Exiled (2006), 96–97, 98
extreme close up shots, 28–33
abstract shots, 116
breaking the rules, 33
versus macro shots, 119
overview, 28–29
technical considerations, 32
use of, 30–31
using extreme long shots with, 65
extreme long shots, 64–69
breaking the rules, 69
versus long shots, 59
overview, 64–65
technical considerations, 68
use of, 66–67
eyelights
for close ups, 37, 38
for crane shots, 169
F
Fallen Angels (1995), 7, 12
fast lenses, 13-14
field of view
in close up shots, 37
in extreme long shots, 68
overview, 12
in pan shots, 134
in sequence shots, 176
film formats
for abstract shots, 116
INDEX
185
for close up shots, 38
for emblematic shots, 110
for establishing shots, 80
for extreme close up shots, 32
for extreme long shots, 68
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for macro shots, 122
for medium close up shots, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 16-17
for subjective shots, 86
for two shots, 92
for zoom shots, 128
filters, Neutral Density. See Neutral
Density (ND) filters
fixed focal length lenses, 14, 128
focal lengths
in canted shots, 104
in close ups, 37
in crane shots, 170
in dolly shots, 143, 146
in establishing shots, 80
in group shots, 98
and image systems, 21
in medium close up shots, 44
in medium long shots, 55, 56
overview, 12
in pan shots, 134
in sequence shots, 176
in Steadicam shots, 164
in tilt shots, 140
in tracking shots, 158
in two shots, 92
in zoom shots, 125, 128
focal points
186
and depth cues, 10
in canted shots, 103
in close ups, 35, 37
in emblematic shots, 111
in extreme close ups, 31
in extreme long shots, 67
in group shots, 97
in long shots, 61
in medium close ups, 43
in medium shots, 49
in O.T.S. shots, 71, 73
in pan shots, 133
in Steadicam shots, 163
in tracking shots, 157
in two shots, 91
in zoom shots, 127
overview, 11
focus attachments, follow, 18, 128,
152
focus puller, 158
focusing distance, 14
follow focus attachments, 18, 128, 152
foreshadowing
with extreme close ups, 30
with tilt shots, 138
formats, film. See film formats
frame, composition of, 1–4
frame axes, 6
friction control, camera, 140
Full Metal Jacket (1987), 165
G
gain mode, 122
Garrone, Matteo, 75
Gattaca (1997), 123
Gibson, Mel, 15, 100, 101, 104
Gilliam, Terry, 99
Gilroy, Tony, 162–163
The Godfather (1972), 2–3
Gomorrah (2008), 75
Goodfellas (1990), 160, 161
The Graduate (1967), 70, 71
graininess, 129
Greengrass, Paul, 126–127
group shots, 94–99
breaking the rules, 99
overview, 94–95
technical considerations, 98
use of, 96–97
using long shots for, 59
using medium long shots with, 53
using medium shots with, 47
using two shots with, 89
H
handheld cameras, 86
Haneke, Michael, 62–63
HD (High Definition) video
for extreme long shots, 68
for abstract shots, 116
for close up shots, 38
for establishing shots, 80
for extreme close ups, 32
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for macro shots, 122
for medium close ups, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 18-19
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 86
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 92
for zoom shots, 128
HD camera lens adapter kits, 17
headroom
in canted shots, 103
in close ups, 37, 39
in dolly zoom shots, 151
in long shots, 61
in medium close-ups, 43
in medium long shots, 55
overview, 7
in pan shots, 133
in sequence shots, 175
in Steadicam shots, 163
in subjective shots, 85
in tilt shots, 139
in tracking shots, 157
in zoom shots, 127
Hero (2004), 8
Herzog, Werner, 11
Hidden (2005), 62–63
high angle shots
crane shots, 169
in dolly zoom shots, 151
medium close ups, 43
overview, 9
High Definition video. See HD video
high-key lighting, 32
Hillcoat, John, 8
Hitchcock, Alfred, 7, 149, 173
Hitchcock’s rule
in close ups, 35
in emblematic shots, 107, 109
in extreme close ups, 29
in extreme long shots, 65
in group shots, 95
in long shots, 61
in macro shots, 119
in medium long shots, 53
in O.T.S. shots, 71
overview, 7–8
in two shots, 89, 91
horizon lines
in emblematic shots, 109
in establishing shots, 79
in subjective shots, 85
Hot Fuzz (2007), 135
Hunger (2008), 6
I
I am Legend (2007), 66–67
Im, Kwon-taek, 69
image system, 20–27
abstract shots as part of, 113
an emblematic shots, 107
and extreme close-ups, 29
macro shots as part of, 119
in Oldboy (2006), 22–27
overview, 20–22
using medium close ups, 41
In Bruges (2008), 138–139
indoor shots, lighting for
extreme long shots, 68
group shots, 98
long shots, 62
medium long shots, 56
sequence shots, 176
subjective shots, 86
Inglourious Basterds (2009), 9
intervalometer, 116
Into the Wild (2007), 120
J
Jarmusch, Jim, 88, 89
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du
Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975),
50–51
Jeunet, Jean-Pierre, 40, 41
Jonze, Spike, 87
K
Kagemusha (1980), 130, 131
Kassovitz, Mathieu, 150–151
Kubrick, Stanley, 13, 76, 77, 164, 165
Kurosawa, Akira, 130, 131
L
La Haine (1995), 150–151
Last Year at Marienbad (1961), 64, 65
Lawrence, Francis, 66–67
Lee, Ang, 166, 167
Lee, Spike, 32–33
Leigh, Mike, 48–49
lens adapter kits. See also 35mm lens
adapter kits
HD camera, 18–19
SD camera, 18–19
lenses
See also normal lenses; telephoto
lenses; wide angle lenses
for abstract shots, 116
for canted shots, 104
for close up shots, 38
for crane shots, 170
for dolly shots, 146
for dolly zoom shots, 152
for emblematic shots, 110
for establishing shots, 80
for extreme close up shots, 32
for extreme long shots, 68
fast, 13-14
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for macro shots, 122
for medium close up shots, 44
for medium close ups, 43
INDEX
187
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
for pan shots, 134
prime, 14
for sequence shots, 176
slow, 13-14
specialized, 14-15
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 86
for tilt shots, 140
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 92
zoom, 14
for zoom shots, 128
Leon: The Professional (1994), 52, 53
Leone, Sergio, 171
Let the Right One In (2008), 156–157
lighting
for abstract shots, 113, 116
for canted shots, 103, 104
for close up shots, 38
for close ups, 38
for crane shots, 170
for dolly shots, 145, 146
for dolly zoom shots, 152
for emblematic shots, 110
for establishing shots, 77, 80
for extreme close up shots, 32
for extreme long shots, 68
on eyes in close ups, 37
for group shots, 97, 98
for long shots, 61, 62
for macro shots, 122
for medium close up shots, 43, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
and Neutral Density filtration, 16
188
for O.T.S. shots, 73, 74
for pan shots, 133, 134
for sequence shots, 175, 176
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 85, 86
for tilt shots, 140
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 91, 92
for zoom shots, 128
The Lives of Others (2006), 9, 159
long focal length lenses. See
telephoto lenses
long shots, 58–63
breaking the rules, 63
combining medium close ups with,
41
versus medium long shot, 53
overview, 58–59
technical considerations, 62
use of, 60–61
using for group shots, 95, 98
using medium shots with, 47
using tracking shots with, 155
long takes
sequence shots, 173
zoom shots, 125
looking room
and the rule of thirds, 7
in close ups, 37, 39
in crane shots, 169
in dolly shots, 145
in O.T.S. shots, 73
in two shots, 91
in sequence shots, 175
low angle shots
in group shots, 99
overview, 9
tilt shots, 139
in two shots, 91
low-key lighting, 32, 97
Lucas, George, 11, 107
Lund, Kátia, 94, 95
Lynch, David, 29, 129
M
macro lenses, 116, 119
macro shots, 118–123
breaking the rules, 123
extreme close up shots, 29, 32
overview, 118–119
technical considerations, 122
use of, 120–121
magic hour, 68, 110
Malick, Terrence, 12, 114–115
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979),
30
master shots, 89
The Matrix Reloaded (2003), 60–61
McDonagh, Martin, 138–139
McQueen, Steve, 6
McTiernan, John, 102–103, 104
Médem, Julio, 28, 29
medium close up shots, 40–45
breaking the rules, 45
combining with crane shots, 169
versus medium shot, 47
O.T.S. shots, 71, 72–73
overview, 40–41
technical considerations, 44
use of, 42–43
using long shots with, 59
using with dolly zoom shots, 152
using with two shots, 89
medium long shots, 52–57
breaking the rules, 57
versus medium shots, 47
overview, 52–53
technical considerations, 56
use of, 54–55
using for group shots, 95, 98
using tracking shots with, 155
using with dolly zoom shots, 152
using with two shots, 89
medium shots, 46–51
breaking the rules, 51
versus long shots, 59, 62
versus medium close up shots, 41
versus medium long shots, 53
O.T.S. shots, 71
overview, 46–47
technical considerations, 50
use of, 48–49
using for group shots, 95, 98
using long shots with, 59
using tracking shots with, 155
using with dolly zoom shots, 152
using with two shots, 89
Meirelles, Fernando, 68, 94, 95
Memories of Murder (2003), 57
Michael Clayton (2007), 162–163
Michelangelo Antonioni, 176
mise en scène, 104, 176
Misery (1990), 8
Myrick, Daniel, 19
Mystery Train (1989), 88, 89
N
Naked (1993), 48–49
ND (Neutral Density) filters. See
Neutral Density filters
nets, 38
Neutral Density (ND) filters
overview, 16
using with close up shots, 38
using with establishing shots, 80
using with extreme long shots, 68
using with long shots, 62
using with O.T.S. shots, 74
using with tracking shots, 158
using with two shots, 92
Niccol, Andrew, 123
Nichols, Mike, 70, 71
night shots, lighting for
crane shots, 170
establishing shots, 80
group shots, 98
for medium long shots, 56
sequence shots, 176
subjective shots, 86
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), 54–55
normal lenses
for abstract shots, 116
for close ups, 37–38
field of view of, 12
for medium close ups, 44
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 13
for subjective shots, 86
for tilt shots, 139
O
off-screen space
in dolly shots, 145
in emblematic shots, 109
in extreme close up shots, 31
in extreme long shots, 67
Oldboy (2003), 20, 22–27
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968),
171
open frames, 10-11
O.T.S. (over the shoulder) shots. See
over the shoulder shots
outdoor shots, lighting for
crane shots, 170
establishing shots, 77, 80
extreme long shots, 68
group shots, 98
long shots, 62
medium long shots, 56
O.T.S. shots, 73
sequence shots, 176
tracking shots, 158
two shots, 91, 92
over the shoulder (O.T.S.) shots, 70–75
breaking the rules, 75
overlapping objects, 10
overview, 70–71
technical considerations, 74
as two shots, 93
use of, 72–73
using medium shots for, 47
overlapping objects, 9–10
Ozon, François, 147
P
pan shots, 130–135
breaking the rules, 135
combining with crane shots, 169
comparison with tilt shots, 137
overview, 130–131
technical considerations, 134
use of, 132–133
Paris, Texas (1984), 93
Park, Chan-wook, 20, 22–27
The Passenger (1975), 176
Penn, Sean, 12, 120
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
(2006), 42–43
The Piano (1993), 168–169, 170
point-of-view (P.O.V.) shots, 83
INDEX
189
practicals
for group shots, 98
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 86
preview monitors, 18, 32, 158, 170
prime lenses, 14, 128
The Proposition (2005), 8
Pulp Fiction (1994), 38–39
R
Radford, Michael, 54–55
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), 144–
145
Raise the Red Lantern (1991), 108–
109
Ramsay, Lynne, 142, 143
Ratcatcher (1999), 142, 143
ratios
aspect, 6, 140
zoom, 14, 128
reaction shots, 83
Reconstruction (2003), 117
Reiner, Rob, 8
relative size depth cues, 9, 79
repetition, image, 22–25
repoussoir
in establishing shots, 79
in group shots, 97
in medium long shots, 55
in zoom shots, 127
Requiem for a Dream (2000), 118, 119
Reservoir Dogs (1992), 1, 3
Resnais, Alain, 64, 65
resolution, camera, 18
reverse tracking shots, 155
ring lights, 122
The Rock (1996), 10
Rocky (1976), 3–4
190
Rope (1948), 173
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), 46, 47,
50
rule of thirds
in close ups, 37, 39
in emblematic shots, 107
in extreme long shots, 65, 67, 69
in group shots, 95
O.T.S. shots, 73
overview, 7
in pan shots, 133
in Steadicam shots, 163
in tilt shots, 137
in tracking shots, 157
in two shots, 91
in zoom shots, 127
Russian Ark (2002), 86, 177
S
S16mm film format, 17
Sánchez, Eduardo, 19
Schnabel, Julian, 84–85
Scorsese, Martin, 160, 161
Scott, Ridley, 90–91
scrims, 38
SD (Standard Definition) video
for close up shots, 38
for extreme long shots, 68
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for medium close ups, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 18-19
for Steadicam shots, 164
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 92
using for extreme close ups, 32
for zoom shots, 128
SD camera lens adapter kits, 17-18
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009),
174–175
Seopyeonje (1993), 69
sequence shots, 172–177
breaking the rules, 177
overview, 172–173
technical considerations, 176
use of, 174–175
using crane shots for, 167
Sex and Lucia (2001), 28, 29
shallow depth of field
in abstract shots, 115
in canted shots, 103
in close up shots, 35, 37, 38, 39
in dolly shots, 146
in extreme close ups, 31, 32
in long shots, 62
in macro shots, 121
in medium close ups, 41, 43
for medium long shots, 56
in medium shots, 49
in O.T.S. shots, 71, 72–73, 74
overview, 15–16
in sequence shots, 175
in subjective shots, 85
in tracking shots, 157, 158
The Shawshank Redemption (1994),
72–73
The Shining (1980), 76, 77, 164
shooting formats, 16-17
Sid and Nancy (1986), 58, 59, 62
The Silence of the Lambs (1991), 82,
83, 111
silhouetting of characters, 97
skateboard dolly, 146
slow lenses, 13-14
slower stocks, 74
Soderbergh, Steven, 136, 137
Sokurov, Alexander, 86, 177
Solaris (2002), 136, 137
The Soloist (2009), 112, 113
specialized lenses, 14-15
Spielberg, Steven, 144–145
split field diopters
for abstract shots, 116
for emblematic shots, 110
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 14
Standard Definition video. See SD
video
Stanton, Andrew, 34, 35
Star Wars (1977), 107
Steadicam shots, 160–165
breaking the rules, 165
dolly zoom shots, 152
overview, 160–161
sequence shots, 177
technical considerations, 164
use of, 162–163
story
core ideas of, 22
essence of, 3–4
strobing effect, 134
subject placement
in crane shots, 169
in dolly shots, 145
in group shots, 96–97
in long shots, 61
in medium close ups, 43
in medium shots, 49
in O.T.S. shots, 73
in pan shots, 133
in sequence shots, 175
in tilt shots, 139
in two shots, 91
using rule of thirds, 7
in zoom shots, 127
subjective shots, 82–87
breaking the rules, 87
overview, 82–83
technical considerations, 86
use of, 84–85
Super 16 mm format
using for extreme long shots, 68
using for group shots, 98
using for subjective shots, 86
Super 35 mm format, 68
Swimming Pool (2003), 147
swish pans, 134, 135
symbolism, 23–24
symmetry
in emblematic shots, 107
in establishing shots, 79
in extreme long shots, 66
in tilt shots, 139
T
Taking Lives (2004), 148, 149
Tarantino, Quentin, 1, 3, 9, 39
telephoto lenses
for abstract shots, 116
for canted shots, 104
for close ups, 37–38
for dolly shots, 146
field of view of, 12
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for medium close ups, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 49, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 13
for pan shots, 134
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 86
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 92
Thelma & Louise (1991), 90–91
The Thin Red Line (1998), 12, 114–115
tilt-shift lenses
for abstract shots, 116
for emblematic shots, 110
for establishing shots, 80
for extreme long shots, 68
for O.T.S. shots, 74
for subjective shots, 86
overview, 14
tilt shots, 136–141
breaking the rules, 141
combining with crane shots, 169
overview, 136–137
technical considerations, 140
use of, 138–139
time lapse, 119
To, Johnny, 96–97, 98
Touch of Evil (1958), 172, 173, 176
tracking shots, 154–159
breaking the rules, 159
overview, 154–155
technical considerations, 158
use of, 156–157
using Steadicams, 155
Trainspotting (1996), 153
tripods
using for canted shots, 104
using for pan shots, 134
using for tilt shots, 140
trombone shots, 148–153
Truffaut, François, 7, 154, 155
INDEX
191
The Truman Show (2002), 105
Tsai Ming-Liang, 45
two shots, 88–93
breaking the rules, 93
overview, 88–89
technical considerations, 92
use of, 90–91
using medium long shots with, 53
using medium shots with, 47
Tykwer, Tom, 42–43
V
variable focal length lenses. See
zoom lenses
Vertigo (1958), 149
Vertigo effect, 148–153
video assist system, 32
viewfinders, director’s, 19, 164
viewing room, 39
von Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel,
9, 159
Von Trier, Lars, 81
Weir, Peter, 105
Welles, Orson, 172, 173, 176
Wenders, Wim, 93, 141
Werner Fassbinder, Rainer, 30
What Time Is It There? (2001), 45
wide angle converter, 122
wide angle lenses
for abstract shots, 116
for canted shots, 103, 104
for dolly shots, 146
for extreme close ups, 32
for extreme long shots, 67
field of view of, 12
for group shots, 98
for long shots, 62
for medium close ups, 44
for medium long shots, 56
for medium shots, 50
for O.T.S. shots, 74
overview, 12
for pan shots, 134
for sequence shots, 176
for Steadicam shots, 164
for subjective shots, 86
for tilt shots, 139, 140
for tracking shots, 158
for two shots, 92
wide field of view, 97
Wings of Desire (1987), 141
Wong, Kar Wai, 7, 12
Wright, Edgar, 135
Wright, Joe, 112, 113
W
Wachowski, Andy, 60–61
Wachowski, Lana, 60–61
walking room, 7
WALL·E (2008), 34, 35
X
x axis
exaggerating movement on, 44
in group shots, 95
overview, 6
U
unbalanced compositions
emblematic shots, 107
extreme long shots, 65
group shots, 95
medium long shots, 53
overview, 8
undercranking, 116
The Untouchables (1987), 14
192
in pan shots, 134
in tilt shots, 140
in tracking shots, 155, 158
Z
z axis
in abstract shots, 115
in canted shots, 104
and depth cues, 9
in dolly shots, 143
in dolly zoom shots, 151
in emblematic shots, 109
emphasis in establishing shots, 79
exaggerating movement on, 44
in extreme long shots, 68
in group shots, 95, 97, 98
and image systems, 21
in macro shots, 121
overview, 6
in Steadicam shots, 164
in tilt shots, 140
in tracking shots, 155, 158
in two shots, 92
Zhang, Yimou 8, 108–109
zolly shots, 148–153
zoom lenses
camera to subject distance, 16
overview, 14
using for extreme close ups, 32
zoom ratio, 14, 128
zoom shots, 124–129
breaking the rules, 129
combining tracking shots with, 155
comparison with dolly shots, 143
overview, 124–125
technical considerations, 128
use of, 126–127